demolition a loud ratatat of explosions echoed from the structure then the building began to fall one floor after another cascading into an explosion of dust plumes billowed into the air as crowds watched the scene from afarlevine cava told the associated press that the demolition went exactly as plannedit was pictureperfect exactly what we were told would happen she said in an interviewsome residents had pleaded to return to their homes one last time before the demolition to retrieve belongings but they were denied others wondered about the pets left behind officials said they found no signs of animals after making three final sweeps including the use of drones to peer into the abandoned structurelevine cava said teams are working to save personal items and have asked residents to catalog what theyre missing to match with items as soon as they are recoveredthe world is mourning for those who lost their loved ones and for those who are waiting for news from the collapse she said at the news conference to lose your home and all your belongings in this manner is a great loss as wellthe decision to demolish the remnants of the building came after concerns mounted that the damaged structure was at risk of falling endangering the crews below parts of the remaining building shifted on thursday prompting a 15hour suspension in the workapproaching tropical storm elsa added urgency to the demolition plans president joe biden declared a state of emergency in florida because of the storm making federal aid possiblethe latest forecasts showed the storm moving westward mostly sparing south florida but the area could still experience heavy rains and winds jadallah said that weather was not expected to affect the search effortsnow that we dont have an issue with the building the only time that were stopping is lightning he said