Bidens Will Visit Florida Town Where Condo Building Collapsed

(Bloomberg) -- President Joe Biden and first lady Jill Biden on Thursday will visit the south Florida town where a condo tower collapsed, killing 11 people and leaving dozens more missing, the White House said.

Rescue workers are still digging through the wreckage of Champlain Towers South, a multi-unit condo tower that collapsed on Thursday. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said that 11 bodies had been recovered from the site and that 150 people remained missing as recovery efforts continued.

Biden was briefed Sunday on the catastrophe by Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell, a discussion he called “excruciating” in a statement.

“She reiterated that words can’t describe the scene on the ground,” he said. “We will continue to coordinate closely with officials on the ground throughout this terrible ordeal and my administration is ready to provide any support or assistance that is needed.”

The federal government has deployed more than 50 personnel to the site, including search and rescue teams from FEMA as well as building science experts, structural engineers and geotechnical experts to help with the recovery effort.

On Monday, the White House said Biden supported a federal investigation into the incident.

“The goal, of course, is to get to the bottom of what happened and, of course, have it be an instructive guide on how to prevent it from happening in the future,” White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki said.

©2021 Bloomberg L.P.