A multi-story apartment block in Florida partially collapsed during Thursday's early hours, sparking a major emergency response with more than 80 fire and rescue units arriving on the scene.

It was unclear how many people lived in the building in the town of Surfside - just north of Miami Beach - or had been inside at the time.

While there were no confirmed reports of death or injury so far, an image posted on Miami Beach Police's Twitter account showed a tangle of rubble with debris spilling down from what was left of the balconies of the building in the darkness.

Witnesses claim to have heard people screaming beneath the rubble during frantic efforts to free them from the rubble of the building, believed to be a 12-storey apartment block named Champlain Towers South.

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