Rescuers 'not seeing anything positive' as Florida condo toll climbs

Officials overseeing the search at the site of the Florida condominium collapse sounded increasingly somber about the prospects for finding anyone alive, saying they have detected no new signs of life in the rubble as the death toll climbed to 36.

Crews in yellow helmets and blue jumpsuits searched the debris for a 13th day while wind and rain from the outer bands of Tropical Storm Elsa complicated their efforts.

"We are actively searching as aggressively as we can," Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky said at a news conference on Tuesday. But he added: "Unfortunately, we are not seeing anything positive. The key things - void spaces, living spaces - we're not seeing anything like that."

Lightning forced rescuers to pause their work for two hours early Tuesday, Miami-Dade Assistant Fire Chief Raide Jadallah said. He said workers have removed 5.5 million pounds of debris from the pile.

At the site of the collapsed building Tuesday morning, power saws and backhoes could be heard as workers in yellow helmets and blue jumpsuits sifted through the rubble for a 13th day.

Stiff winds of 20 mph (32 kph) with stronger gusts blew through the area as gray clouds from Elsa’s outer bands swirled above.

Bands of rain were expected in Surfside as Elsa strengthened with potential to become a hurricane again before making landfall somewhere between Tampa Bay and Florida's Big Bend and crossing northern Florida.

READ MORE: Tropical Storm Elsa gains strength as it lashes Florida Keys

Hurdles in rescue work

The search crews can work through rain, but lightning from unrelated thunderstorms have forced them to pause at times, and a garage area in the rubble has filled with water, officials said.

The delays frustrated rescue crews, Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.

“Truly they live to save lives, and they’ve pushed ahead no matter what is thrown in their way,” she said at a Monday evening news conference.

Still, crews got a big boost when the unstable remaining portion of the Champlain Towers South building came down Sunday. The demolition — prompted by fears that the structure could fall — allowed rescuers into previously inaccessible places, including bedrooms where people were believed to be sleeping at the time of the disaster, officials said.

"The site is busier and more active now than I’ve seen it since we began, now that the damaged building is down,” Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said, adding that heavy equipment was now able to move freely around the site.

Rescuers hoped to get a clearer picture of voids that may exist in the rubble as they search for anyone still trapped under the fallen wing of the building, but they found very few voids, Jadallah told family members late Monday.

No one has been rescued alive since the first hours after the collapse, but rescuers were still holding out hope of reuniting loved ones.

“We continue to remain focused on our primary mission, and that is to leave no stone unturned and to find as many people as we can and to help bring either some answers to family and loved ones or to bring some closure to them,” City of Miami Fire Rescue Capt Ignatius Carroll said.

READ MORE: Death toll rises as search resumes at Miami condominium collapse