A demolition team brought down the remaining structure of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, just after 10 p.m. ET on Sunday (July 4) night.
The planned demolition was necessary to allow rescue crews to safely resume their efforts to locate people who remain buried in the rubble.
"It went absolutely perfectly. We are so, so grateful that we can get this building down and move on with our search efforts," Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said on NBC'sToday. "It's made it possible for the team to go out. I just came from the briefing session, they're going out."
Officials were also concerned that Tropical Storm Elsa could make landfall and cause the building to collapse in an uncontrolled manner. While the storm is not forecast to hit Miami directly, it did force Miami-Dade Fire Rescue to recall the special task forces that were sent to help with the search efforts. As they left, task forces from other states arrived to offer their help to the ongoing efforts.
"This July 4th, we're reminded that patriotism isn't just about loyalty to country, it's about loyalty to one another, to our communities, to those in need whose names or stories we may not know ever, but to whom we are connected by compassion and by resilience, we have seen more than ever how at the end of the day, we really have each other," Levine Cava said.
Once the search operation resumed, workers pulled three more bodies from the site, bringing the death toll to 27. Officials said that 118 people remain unaccounted for. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said that the demolition will allow them to search a section of the building where many bedrooms were located.