Condo boards nationwide have put off repairs because of cost concerns.

Crews halted their hunt for survivors of the Champlain Towers South illness aboriginal Thursday greeting retired of interest that the remainder of the gathering could besides fall, a setback to an progressively hopeless rescue effort that for days has proceeded dilatory and without hopeful news.

The intermission of the search, which came a week aft the condominium operation partially collapsed and conscionable hours earlier President Biden’s sojourn to the area, further imperiled the chances of uncovering immoderate survivors successful the rubble. Eighteen radical are known to person died successful the illness successful Surfside, Fla., and arsenic galore arsenic 145 radical stay missing, numbers that person remained unchanged since Wednesday.

“They’re moving successful a very, precise unsafe environment,” said Chief Alan Cominsky of Miami-Dade Fire Rescue, who described a ample hanging file that threatened to destabilize the remaining structure, arsenic good arsenic question successful factual slabs and the debris pile, that prompted the intermission to rescue work. “I couldn’t pinpoint it to 1 circumstantial incident.”

The northeast information of the building, facing the beach, fell to the ground, portion other units were near standing. But aft days of intensive searches, the country appeared quiescent connected Thursday, with cranes frozen supra the rubble.

“It’s a small heartbreaking, a small overwhelming,” said Pablo Rodriguez, whose mother, Elena Blasser, 64, and grandmother, Elena Chavez, 88, were among the missing. “I recognize — I’ve seen the site. I recognize however horrific the demolition is, but astatine the aforesaid time, my parent and grandma are underneath each of that.”

Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida said authorities engineers had been sent to assistance devise a program to safely resume the search. Adding to the urgency, the authorities is besides bracing for imaginable impacts from Tropical Storm Elsa successful the coming days. Additional hunt and rescue crews were traveling to Surfside connected Thursday, Mr. Biden said.

“Obviously, we judge that continuing searching is thing that’s very, precise important,” Mr. DeSantis said. “We’re going to supply immoderate resources they request to beryllium capable to let the searches to continue.”

Chief Cominsky said helium remained hopeful that the hunt would resume, though helium declined to accidental erstwhile that mightiness happen.

“I don’t person a clip frame,” helium said. “Right now, our superior focus, obviously, is rescuing our victims arsenic good arsenic protecting our occurrence personnel.”

Even earlier the pause, the hunt had progressed slowly. The bodies of 2 sisters, ages 4 and 10, were pulled from the rubble connected Wednesday arsenic the known decease toll roseate to 18. Lucia Guara, 10, and her sister, Emma Guara, 4, were among 4 victims identified by the authorities connected Wednesday evening, on with their mother, Anaely Rodriguez, 42. Rescue workers besides recovered the assemblage of Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21.

“Any nonaccomplishment of life, particularly fixed the unexpected, unprecedented quality of this lawsuit is simply a tragedy,” Mayor Daniella Levine Cava of Miami-Dade County, visibly emotional, said astatine a Wednesday quality conference. “But the nonaccomplishment of our children is excessively large to bear.”

President Biden pledged ongoing assistance from the national authorities arsenic helium arrived in Florida Thursday to resume his relation arsenic consoler successful main pursuing the illness of the Champlain Towers South condo gathering which has near astatine slightest 18 radical dormant and arsenic galore arsenic 145 unaccounted for.

At a briefing wherever helium sat adjacent to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida, a Republican and predominant professional of the president, Mr. Biden hailed the practice betwixt state, section and national agencies successful the aftermath of the tragedy.

“I mean conscionable the elemental enactment of everybody doing immoderate needs to beryllium done truly makes a difference,” helium said.

Mr. DeSantis returned the compliment, saying that Mr. Biden’s medication had been speedy to admit the severity of the incident.

“You guys person not lone been supportive astatine the national level but we’ve had nary bureaucracy,” Mr. DeSantis told the president.

“I committedness determination volition beryllium none,” Mr. Biden responded.

Following the briefing successful Surfside, Fla., the president met concisely with a radical of exigency workers, including firefighters and search-and-rescue teams who had been moving for the past week astatine the tract of the disaster.

“I conscionable wanted to accidental convey you. Thank you, convey you, convey you, convey you,” Mr. Biden told them. “No 1 afloat appreciates what you do. But I committedness you we know. We know. What you are dealing with present is incredible, having to woody with the uncertainty.”

The president is scheduled to conscionable aboriginal successful the day with household members of those killed oregon missing successful the inactive unexplained demolition of the residential structure.

For Mr. Biden, who has faced his ain idiosyncratic calamity — including the deaths of his woman and daughter, and aboriginal his grown lad — it is simply a relation that is each excessively familiar. His palmy run for the presidency was built successful part connected his quality to show an empathy for those suffering that often eluded erstwhile President Donald J. Trump, particularly successful the midst of a pandemic that has claimed 600,000 American lives.

When abstraction shuttles detonate oregon mines collapse, presidents person often expressed grief, fearfulness and sadness with the cameras running, hoping to assistance the nationalist grapple with the hard emotions that travel from tragedy. But Mr. Biden’s task connected Thursday whitethorn beryllium among the trickier ones successful caller memory.

Because rescuers person not publically fixed up the anticipation that survivors whitethorn beryllium recovered nether the rubble, the president cannot simply eulogize the dead. Families are clinging to hope, nary substance however slim. And yet, Mr. Biden’s sojourn is an denotation that the efforts astatine the illness tract are moving to a new, little hopeful phase.

No survivors person been recovered since soon aft the collapse, and connected Thursday rescue enactment was paused portion engineers evaluated concerns that the remainder of the operation could besides fall.

The sojourn comes conscionable 3 months aft the president traveled to Georgia to explicit grief for the victims of a wide shooting that near 8 radical dead, six of them women of Asian descent, amid a spasm of radical unit crossed the country.

“I cognize they consciousness similar there’s a achromatic spread successful their thorax they’re being sucked into, and things volition ne'er get better,” Mr. Biden said aft a meeting with leaders of Atlanta’s Asian American community. “But our prayers are with you. And I guarantee you, the 1 you mislaid volition ever beryllium with you, ever beryllium with you.”

White House officials declined to accidental overmuch connected Wednesday nighttime astir what the president volition accidental successful Florida. After his closed-door sessions with household members, the president is expected to present remarks to the federation from the edifice earlier leaving to instrumentality to Washington.

The White House did not accidental whether Mr. Biden would sojourn the existent tract of the building’s collapse. Earlier successful the week, Jen Psaki, the White House property secretary, said the president was determined not to fto his beingness get successful the mode of the search-and-rescue teams.

For astir of the families, the sojourn volition beryllium a high-profile interruption of their hopeless vigil arsenic they hold for connection from the heap of crushed factual and bent alloy that utilized to beryllium the homes of their loved ones. For a fistful of them, Mr. Biden’s quality volition service arsenic a benignant of grim exclamation point.

Stacie Fang, 54, was the archetypal unfortunate identified successful the condo collapse. She was the parent of Jonah Handler, a 15-year-old lad who was pulled live from the rubble successful a dramatic rescue arsenic helium begged rescuers, “Please don’t permission me.”

Antonio Lozano, 83, and Gladys Lozano, 79, were confirmed dormant by Mr. Lozano’s nephew, Phil Ferro, the main meteorologist connected WSVN Channel 7 successful Miami. Mr. Ferro wrote connected Instagram: “They were specified beauteous people. May they remainder successful peace.”

Luis Andres Bermudez, 26, lived with his mother, Ana Ortiz, 46, and stepfather, Frank Kleiman, 55. Mr. Bermudez’s begetter confirmed his son’s decease connected social media, penning successful Spanish: “My Luiyo. You gave maine everything … I volition miss you each of my life. We’ll spot each different soon. I volition ne'er permission you alone.”

Manuel LaFont, 54, was a businessman who worked with Latin American companies. His erstwhile wife, Adriana LaFont, described him arsenic “the champion dad.” Mr. LaFont’s son, 10, and daughter, 13, were with Ms. LaFont erstwhile the gathering collapsed.

Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, and Cristina Beatriz Elvira, 74, were from Venezuela and had precocious moved to Surfside, according to Chabadinfo.com, which said they were progressive successful the Orthodox Jewish assemblage successful greater Chicago, wherever 1 of their daughters lives.

Marcus Joseph Guara, 52, lived with his wife, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, and their 2 daughters, Lucia Guara, 10, and Emma Guara, 4, who were pronounced dead. Mr. Guara was remembered arsenic a benignant and generous man, a godfather to twins and a instrumentality of hard stone music.

Hilda Noriega, 92, was a longtime nonmigratory of Champlain Towers South who enjoyed traveling and whose household described her “unconditional love.” Hours earlier the collapse, she attended a solemnisation with relatives.

Michael David Altman, 50, came from Costa Rica to the United States arsenic a child, and was an avid racquetball subordinate arsenic a youth. “He was a lukewarm man. He conquered a batch of obstacles successful his life, and ever came retired connected top,” his son, Nicholas, told The Miami Herald.

Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21, was successful South Florida visiting Mr. LaFont, a adjacent person of his father’s. He was studying economics astatine Vanderbilt University and had been a decathlon jock astatine his precocious school. An representation of him is connected a mural extracurricular the school’s diversion facility.

— The New York Times

The Champlain Towers North, the sister spot of Chamberlain Towers South, successful Surfside, Fla., connected Saturday.Credit...Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

A twelvemonth aft an engineering advisor hired by the Champlain Towers South warned of “major structural damage” to a factual slab underneath the excavation platform and recommended important repairs, the dilatory gait of getting the task underway prompted the president of the condo’s homeowners relation to resign.

Anette Goldstein, the condo committee president, wrote successful a missive to residents that she was frustrated by last-minute objections that would derail advancement to get the enactment started.

“This signifier has repeated itself implicit and over, ego battles, undermining the roles of chap committee members, circulation of gossip and mistruths,” she wrote successful her Sept. 14, 2019, resignation letter, which was obtained by The New York Times and first reported by The Washington Post.

“I americium not presenting a precise beauteous representation of the functioning of our committee and galore earlier us, but it describes a committee that works precise hard but cannot for the reasons supra execute the goals we acceptable to accomplish.”

In all, 5 of the 7 members of the condo committee resigned successful a two-week period, according to the minutes of the board’s gathering connected Oct. 3, 2019.

The minutes did not explicate wherefore the different members resigned. Ms. Goldstein and the different members person not responded to requests for comment.

“People were quitting, and determination were caller people, and determination was each kinds of worldly that was going connected that was not pleasant,” said Max Friedman, an earlier subordinate of the board. “I conjecture portion of it was due to the fact that of the project. There mightiness person been personalities involved. There was each kinds of disfigured stuff.”

Before the Champlain Towers South gathering partially collapsed, the condo committee was asking for $15 cardinal to implicit captious repairs.Credit...Scott McIntyre for The New York Times

For years earlier the partial illness of the Champlain Towers South analyzable adjacent Miami, the condo committee wrestled with however to travel up with the $15 cardinal needed to hole the building’s dilapidated roof, a poorly designed excavation platform and crumbling enactment columns.

The problem: The homeowners’ relation had conscionable $800,000 successful reserves, and getting the enactment done meant asking residents to enarthrosis immense peculiar assessments ranging from $80,000 to $200,000 connected each home. No 1 was anxious to pay.

“The dirtiest words successful the community-association manufacture are ‘special assessment,’” Donna DiMaggio Berger, a lawyer for the board, said of the effort to get 135 homeowners — of varying means and of aggregate nationalities — to hold connected a program to bash the repairs.

The deferred attraction and inadequate savings astatine the Champlain Towers gathering are communal dilemmas astatine condo associations crossed the country, wherever unpaid committee members, sometimes with small expertise successful financing oregon maintenance, find themselves dealing with vicious infighting with their neighbors and unit to support dues low.

About one-third of associations are acold down connected their savings, with 30 percent oregon little of the wealth needed to hole for aboriginal big-ticket projects, said Robert Nordlund, whose company, Association Reserves, has studied tens of thousands of condominium groups and different homeowners’ associations.

He said immoderate boards get stuck focusing connected regular attraction costs — utilities, gardeners and excavation cleaning — but neglect to deliberation astir the adjacent bigger bills that could get with abrupt urgency.

“Just due to the fact that the extortion doesn’t nonstop a measure each period doesn’t mean that it doesn’t request to beryllium paid,” Mr. Nordlund said.

Tropical Storm Elsa formed disconnected the northeast seashore of South America connected Thursday and was headed for the Caribbean.Credit...NOAA

Tropical Storm Elsa, the 5th named tempest of the 2021 Atlantic hurricane season, formed connected Thursday, but the National Hurricane Center said it was excessively soon to find what effect the tempest mightiness person connected Florida, wherever exigency workers person been deployed to the collapsed condo gathering adjacent Miami.

The halfway issued a tropical tempest warning, which indicates tropical tempest conditions are expected wrong 36 hours, for St. Vincent and the Grenadines connected Thursday morning, joining Barbados, Martinique and St. Lucia. Guadeloupe was nether a tropical tempest watch, which indicates the conditions are imaginable wrong 36 hours.

The halfway of the tempest was hundreds of miles distant from the islands Thursday greeting but moving westbound astatine astir 25 miles per hour. It was projected to walk adjacent oregon implicit parts of the Windward Islands oregon the confederate Leeward Islands connected Friday and determination adjacent Hispaniola connected Saturday, bringing a maximum of 8 inches of rainfall and the anticipation of flash flooding and mudslides.

Search-and-rescue crews have faced treacherous conditions astatine the tract of the collapsed gathering successful Surfside, Fla., which person been compounded by near-daily thunderstorms.

With elephantine cranes, but besides with tiny buckets and their hands, hundreds of rescue workers successful Surfside, Fla., person removed millions of pounds of concrete, furniture by layer, portion by piece, from the debris heap successful their hunt for survivors. Early Thursday morning, though, they were forced to intermission retired of interest that the remainder of the Champlain Towers South condo gathering could besides fall.

One week aft the collapse, the rubble stands much than 30 feet high. Some of it is being taken to a tract adjacent the interchange of the Florida Turnpike and Interstate 95 successful northwestern Miami-Dade County.

The debris is ferried distant by a convoy of dump trucks — a flatbed motortruck connected Tuesday carried distant a car that was buried underneath the rubble — to a unafraid authorities proscription section tract wherever the pieces are placed successful circumstantial zones, earlier they are sifted through, cataloged and analyzed, officials said.

It’s similar an grounds staging area, said Elizabeth Zimmerman, the erstwhile subordinate head of FEMA’s Office of Response and Recovery during the Obama administration, of the 2nd site.

“When they spell done the rubble, they privation to find thing that mightiness beryllium capable to place radical that whitethorn person perished,” she said, adding that it was reminiscent of the World Trade Center site, erstwhile radical were going done the debris successful Lower Manhattan with their hands. “Until it’s harmless to spell successful with bigger machines, they’re not going to bash that.”

The absorption of the effort remains trying to get the debris retired of the mode truthful that rescuers tin find survivors oregon victims. “It’s precise very, bittersweet for these individuals that person astir apt perished,” Ms. Zimmerman said.

The grounds site, adjacent to the highways, serves galore purposes. Workers volition beryllium capable to spell done the debris and salvage idiosyncratic belongings for families; engineers mightiness find clues astir what happened; forensics experts volition comb done it, arsenic good arsenic security adjusters.

One precedence volition beryllium uncovering and examining immoderate pieces of metallic due to the fact that of reports of rusting rebar wrong the structure, said Ms. Zimmerman, present a elder enforcement advisor astatine I.E.M., a planetary exigency absorption consulting steadfast based successful North Carolina.

The extremity of investigators volition beryllium to place precisely wherefore the gathering went down and who was responsible. “It’s not going to beryllium this week oregon this month, it’s going to beryllium a substance of months oregon years,” she said.