Hundreds of residents ordered to evacuate Miami condo building over structural concerns

Building of 5050 NW 7th Street received an evacuation order on Monday

Hundreds of residents living in a condo building in Miami were forced to evacuate in the middle of the night after officials deemed the building unstable.

Residents were ordered to leave the building of 5050 NW 7th Street on Monday by the next day at 8am.

Following the evacuation order, residents were seen leaving the building and attempting to load as many of their belongings from the condos into their vehicles, Local 10 News reports.

Miami building director Asael “Ace” Marrero told NBC Miami that the order was issued because city officials don’t feel the building is safe to live in.

“We obviously don’t feel that it’s safe,” he said. “Structural integrity has been degraded by the contractor proceeding with the repairs that they were not authorised to do.”

Unpermitted work was stopped on Friday, and then city officials ordered for residents to leave after columns for the building were deemed “structurally insufficient,” WSVN reports.

This came after the city inspector, as well as members of the board, surveyed the work being done and found it to be unsafe.

“As can be expected, they’re upset that they have to leave their belongings behind and that this is happening all of a sudden,” Karla Fortuny, chief of staff and communication for Miami City Commissioner Alex de la Portilla, told WSVN.

There are 130 units in the Miami condo building.

Residents expressed frustration to local news sites for having to quickly leave their homes, with many attempting to pack as many of their valuables as they could. It was unclear if the building would be demolished.

City officials were currently working to relocate the displaced residents into temporary housing.

In July, the building failed its 40-year inspection.

“The city had been working with the engineer for this building for weeks now, and they had given specific instructions on what to do in the building,” Ms Fortuny said. “Unfortunately, those instructions were not followed.”

Following the collapse of the Surfside Champlain Towers South, which left 98 people dead, all buildings in the Miami area were ordered to undergo another inspection if they were 40 years or older.

It was not clear if the evacuated building was inspected because of the other building collapse.