NORTH BAY VILLAGE, Fla. – On the night before everyone has to be out, residents could be seen packing up their lives at the Majestic Isles condominium in North Bay Village.
During a special meeting on Monday, one resident was too emotional to continue speaking. A pregnant woman who said she’s close to her due date now needs a new place to stay, just like nearly everyone else at the meeting.
The evacuation order comes after the 1960-built building failed an inspection and an engineer deemed it unsafe.
“You want to be as flexible as you can, understanding people are facing challenges in their lives, but this is really a safety situation,” said North Bay Village Mayor Brent Latham. “In the wake of the Surfside situation, we’re not in a situation to play with this. If the building is unsafe, people need to get out and we need to get them to safety.”
The condo association president told Local 10 News she doesn’t know why the building failed the inspection.
“We just had a permit, our roof was completely repaired,” said Petra Bouwen.
The city said there was a partial ceiling collapse after a roof drain leak, termites and a sagging floor.
“We were managing. I feel we were managing,” said Bouwen. “Of course, it was not enough and if I could avoided that at all costs, I would have.”