CHARLESTON — Residents of a highly sought after luxury property that offered idyllic views of a winding river fled their homes months ago believing they’d return soon.

But the nine-story Riverview Condominiums, just steps from the campus of Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass., was beyond saving.

Engineers found structural flaws throughout the midcentury structure that overlooks the Charles River similar to those that led to the collapse of a Surfside, Fla., condo that killed 98 people.

The circumstances in Massachusetts mirror events that have played out here in Charleston, before and after residents evacuated the Dockside complex along the Cooper River earlier this year.

In Cambridge, Riverview residents evacuated late last year. But city officials recently took additional step

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