In the condo collapse, water is an inevitable suspect. This is Florida.

Frank Morabito of Morabito Consultants, who was hired to conduct a structural survey of the Champlain Towers South in anticipation of the building recertification process required for such buildings 40 years after their construction, issued the loudest warning in his Oct. 8, 2018, report. Morabito said there was “major structural damage” on a concrete slab below the pool deck in the section of the tower that collapsed. The waterproofing below the deck was failing, and the slab had been built flat, not sloped, allowing water to collect, which he called a “major error.” He warned that, unless the waterproofing was replaced in the near future, the concrete deterioration would expand “exponentially.”