Florida Building Collapse: Death Toll Rises to 28 as Tropical Storm Elsa Begins to Hamper Search Efforts

The death toll in the Florida building collapse rose to 28 on Monday as search and rescue operations continued.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava confirmed the number of deaths on Monday night, July 5, The Hill reported.

Florida Building Collapse: Death Toll Now 28 While 117 Still Missing

According to The Hill, three more bodies were discovered by authorities after the Florida condo was demolished for safer search and rescue operations.

Levine Cava has lauded the rescuers for their work in the past 12 days, leading to the bodies' discovery.

"I'm in awe of the men and women of the use our task force teams who've been continuing to brave, dangerous, dangerous and changing conditions for 12 days," the mayor said.

Levine Cava further noted that the rescuers continue to do their work despite the "fire, smoke, and now wind and torrential rain" at the site of the Florida building collapse.

Initially, Wion reported that the three victims were found in the rubble after the condo was demolished, and rescue efforts resumed around midnight on Sunday, July 4.

Later on Monday, July 5, another body was discovered, making the death toll rise to 28. Two of the victims discovered overnight were identified as Ingrid Ainsworth and Tzvi Ainsworth.

The Hill noted that the victims were in the age of 66 and 68, respectively. Authorities did not yet disclose details on the other two victims in the Florida building collapse.

Among the 28 bodies, Levine Cava noted that authorities already identified 26. Although rescue efforts resumed in the ruins of the collapsed Florida building, Wion reported that 117 people are still missing.

Florida Building Collapse: Demolition Made Search and Rescue Easier

Florida Task Force 2 spokesman Captain Ignatius Carroll noted that the demolition of the remains of the Florida building made it easier for the rescuers to focus on the area of search.

"Now that that's been removed, we're now able to focus on that area," Caroll said, emphasizing that rescuers had a hard time in going to the area of rescue.

Rescuers had removed more than four million pounds of concrete in search of the survivors of the Florida building collapse.

The search and recue operations were earlier suspended for the demolition of the remains of the Florida building. There were petitions to delay the leveling of the said building signed by pet owners who lived on the site. However, Levine Cava noted that their search and rescue teams did not found any animals on the site.

The mayor futher noted that they utilized "energetic felling" that involved a series of small explosions and relied on gravity to level the structure.

As the death toll continued to rise, the cause of the Florida building collapse has yet to be determined by authorities.

Tropical Storm Elsa to Hit Florida: Gov. DeSantis Issues Warning of Flooding and Tornadoes

The rescue operations resumed as Florida Governor Ron DeSantis issued a states of emergency in 15 counties including Miami-Dade, with warning of flooding and even tornadoes.

Other counties under a state of emergency were Charlotte, Citrus, Collier, DeSoto, Hernando, Hardee, Hillsborough, Lee, Levy, Monroe, Manatee, Pasco, Pinellas, and Sarasota.

From a hurricane category, Elsa was downgraded to tropical storm on Saturday, July 3. The said storm was expected to hit Cuba on Monday, July 5, before it reachesthe Florida straits on Tuesday morning, July 6.

Carribean Disaster Emergency management Agency confirmed that Elsa left one dead in St. Lucia. Meanwhile, a 15-year-old boy and a 75-year-old woman in Dominican Republic died on separate events on Saturday due to the tropical storm.

WATCH: Death Toll in Florida Building Collapse Rises to 28 - From Reuters