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Authorities in Miami announced they are pausing search and rescue efforts at the Champlain Towers South condo building as engineers plan to demolish the standing structure.
"As soon as the preparation is ready, the site is secured, and the team is ready to go, we will begin the demolition," Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said.
Officials said that knocking down what remains of the building is necessary to safely continue the search and rescue efforts.
"The building's been a problem since the very beginning, and we need to eliminate all the problems, and all the barriers to getting everybody out of there," Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told Face the Nation. "So once this building's down, it's going to be a green light to move full speed ahead, maximum effort to pull these people out and reunite them with their family."
They hope to demolish the building before Tropical Storm Elsa makes landfall later in the week.
"We're preparing for the risk of isolated tornadoes, storm surge, heavy rainfall, and flash flooding," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said. "The state has begun executing contingency plans for the Tropical Storm Elsa and Surfside co-response."
As of Saturday (July 3), the death toll rose to 24, with 121 people still unaccounted for.
First responders said that while they may not find any more survivors following the collapse on June 24, they want to help bring closure to the families who lost loved ones.
"This is the reason that everybody works so hard all the time, 24 hours,"Raz Goldfarb, a first responder and deputy leader of Israeli relief organization SmartAID's Magen search-and-rescue team, told NBC News. "It's very, very important to the families. You can't stop working. You must take everybody out."