The seaview side of a beachfront apartment tower has collapsed in the Miami-area town of Surfside, killing at least one resident and trapping many more in rubble and twisted metal.
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More than 80 rescue units rushed to the partially collapsed building on Thursday morning and firefighters were seen pulling survivors from the debris.
In a tweet, Miami-Dade police said one person has died in the collapse.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett said during a news conference that the building manager told him the building was substantially full.
"The building is literally pancaked," Burkett said.
"That is heartbreaking because it doesn't mean to me that we are going to be as successful as we wanted to be in finding people alive."
Ten people were treated at the scene and two were taken to hospital, one of whom died, Burkett said.
He also said 15 families walked out of the building on their own.
"I've lived here my whole life and I've never seen anything like this happen," he said.
Santo Mejil, 50, told the Miami Herald his wife called him from the building, where she was working as an aide for an elderly woman.
"She said she heard a big explosion. It felt like an earthquake," Mejil told the newspaper. He said she later called him and said rescuers were bringing her down.
There are no official details so far of how many people lived in the building.
Miami-Dade Fire Rescue was conducting search and rescue operations, and said in a tweet that more than 80 rescue units were "on scene with assistance from municipal fire departments".
"We're on the scene so it's still very active," said Sergeant Marian Cruz of the Surfside Police Department.
"What I can tell you is the building is twelve floors. The entire back side of the building has collapsed."
Victor Cohen, who lives nearby, told television station WPLG the building had been undergoing a major renovation when the ocean-front wing "collapsed like a pancake".
Teams of firefighters walked through the rubble, picking up survivors and carrying them from the wreckage.
The collapse left a number of units in the still-standing part of the building exposed.
Television footage showed bunk beds, tables and chairs still left inside the damaged apartments. Air conditioner units were hanging from some parts of the building, where wires now dangled.
Police blocked nearby roads, as fire and rescue vehicles, ambulances and police cars swarmed the area.
Photos and video from the scene show the collapse affected roughly half the tower.
The department has yet to say what may have caused the collapse.
The development was built in 1981 in the southeast corner of Surfside, on the beach.
It had a few two-bedroom units currently on the market, with asking prices of $US600,000-700,000 ($A790,000-925,000).
The area is a mix of new and old apartments, houses and hotels, with restaurants and stores serving an international combination of residents and tourists.
Australian Associated Press
