Luxury buildings are sinking off the coast of Miami and leaving the city on alert

The buildings are located within a radius of 19 kilometers. Which includes buildings that are in Miami Beach and Sunny Isles Beach. The subsidence between buildings varies between two and eight centimeters.

Expert explains that this happens due to the soil. Engineer Julio Timerman, director of the Brazilian Concrete Institute (Ibracon), explains that the city’s geology impacts this subsidence.

Miami’s soil is made of limestone rock, which has a certain elasticity and can cause this type of reaction in structures. Experts are analyzing this change and some sinkings have been going on for 30 years. It didn’t happen overnight. It is not normal, but it is controllable and monitoring is necessary, explains Timerman

Engineer visited one of the buildings. Timerman was in Miami and entered one of the buildings that is experiencing this subsidence. According to him, the structure of the building does not present any problems. “It’s not like in Santos, where we see buildings falling over. The building I visited doesn’t have a crack or fissure. There’s no detachment of the covering or window, for example. Changes that would be signs of problems”, he explains. The engineer reinforces that there is no danger there.

The foundation of the buildings is more than 30 meters high. Because it is an area where hurricanes happen, these buildings are reinforced. “The building is not just built on the surface. They have 30-meter piles stuck in the ground, which reach this limestone region. And this rock has a certain deformity that causes the terrain to settle”, explains Timerman. The important thing, according to him, is to maintain monitoring.

There are famous buildings on the list. Among the buildings that are sinking are two Trump Towers, The Ritz-Carlton Residences and Porsche Design Tower.