And - so I went around the corner, and that's when I saw that the building was missing. Many lost cars, too, buried in the buildings underground parking garage. "Good Morning America's" TJ Holmes asked them what the collapse sounded like. You couldn't see anything. Raysa Rodriguez recounts a harrowing escape from her unit at the collapsed Surfside condominium, and . The search and rescue efforts at the collapsed Miami Beach-area condo building has shifted to a recovery operation, signaling the formal end of the search for survivors, officials announced . Argentina, Colombia, Paraguay, Uruguay and Venezuela have all reported nationals who have been affected by the building collapse in Surfside, with more than a dozen still missing. Hes based in Tallahassee. "That was a very difficult night," Scheinhaus said. And 156 people are still unaccounted for. "She lived there for a long time," said Adam Schwartzbaum, her attorney, "and she was planning to live there for the rest of her life. It was. All content Copyright 2000 - 2023 WSVN-TV. A mother and daughter who survived the Florida condo collapse that killed 98 people describe how they survived falling when the floor gave way. Im like, All right, Im in the middle of it. Just white, concrete dust," he said. Initially, 150 people were thought to be missing. "We're lucky to be here.". "That's kind of what's hard.". Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. When he told me My building collapsed, I believed something wrong happened during the building or something broke, but not the whole building on the floor.. WSVN 7News | Miami News, Weather, Sports | Fort Lauderdale, Damage forces evacuation of Miami Beach apartment building, Ordered to leave their homes, Crestview Towers residents speak out on evacuation, Remembering the victims of the Surfside condo collapse, How you can help those impacted by the condo collapse in Surfside, Coral Gables resident still refuses to sell decades-old home surrounded by massive development, Broward County pastor faces several fraud, grand theft charges after defrauding church, Gunman dead after hours-long SWAT standoff at SW Miami-Dade apartment complex, Police: Man fatally shot 3-year-old son, himself inside Coconut Grove condo, Police arrest student who made false bomb threat at Dillard High School; classes resume. And that, to me, is the worst thing, and that's all I want back. An engineer apparently warned the building's condo association of major structural damage back in 2018. Its about the lives that are there.. Gabe told his sister to leave the apartment with him, and when they got to the lobby, they joined their mom and started to run. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. Despite a search and rescue effort that went on for weeks, no signs of life were found past the morning of the collapse on June 24. Michael Capponi, the president of a Miami-area nonprofit that for the past decade has helped victims of disasters from hurricanes to wildfires in the U.S. and abroad, said he has personally dealt with 50 people who lost homes in the building. And I want you to know that in 2018, we had a board meeting. We reached out to a Surfside spokesperson for a response but did not hear back. (Liyah Deveaux) By KELLI KENNEDY. Rosenthal is not the only survivor who has shared their story. Teams of firefighters have been cutting through the layers of debris with various machinery and using sonar devices as well as specially trained dogs as part of the search efforts, a process that Jadallah said is "slow and methodical." GARCIA-NAVARRO: And have you been back to the building? Alfredo and Marian Lopez were sound asleep around 1:30 a.m. Thursday when they heard the first boom, like a crash of thunder from a Florida . I lived there by myself. Their condo in Surfside had collapsed, and they had just narrowly survived. As they stepped onto the beach, Alfredo said he could hear the cries for help coming from the wreckage. One unit over, and I am gone, Rosenthal added. For now they are staying at a nearby hotel, the floor of their room cluttered with items donated by friends and strangers. It wasnt about my home. ALVAREZ: Yes, I go every day. When part of the 12-story Champlain Towers South condo building in Surfside, Florida, collapsed early Thursday, it left a pile of rubble where the beachside residences once stood. The billionaire developer, DAMAC Chairman and Founder Hussain Sajwani,announced in a May 27 press release that he plans to build an ultra-luxurious condominium project. The uncle of a 15-year-old who survived the Champlain Towers South collapse in Surfside, Florida, two weeks ago called the man who found the teenager in the rubble to thank him. The apartments were gone.. Alfredo used to joke to his wife she'd have to bury him there. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. No one ever, ever, ever told us that this - that that building was in such bad shape - no one, no one. appreciated. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Susana Alvarez, thank you very much for talking with us. This was in a matter of seconds, out of nowhere. After a failed attempt duringthe 2022 legislative session, lawmakers in May returned to Tallahasseeandpassed legislation designed to prevent a similar disaster. It's just so emotional. As of Friday, some 159 people were still unaccounted for following the collapse of the northeast section of Champlain Towers early Thursday morning, and four people have . A total of 20 agencies are offering assistance to families affected by the collapse. , even as police and forensic specialists continue working to identify human remains. The couple said their 22-year-old son and 14-year-old daughter were "mere feet away" from the part of the building that collapsed. They were both identified by the Miami-Dade Police Department on June 26. Some of the victims of the devastating condo collapse in Surfside, Fla., may have been alive for hours after the building first caved in but were never found alive by rescue . 00:49. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. The remains belonged to, The final missing person in the condominium building collapse in Surfside, Florida has been recovered and identified, according to the Miami-Dade County mayor. Although he and his family are safe, Longobardi said they are all "shocked. The disaster that killed at least 18 people, with more than 140 still missing, also rendered dozens of people homeless. I don't know because I grabbed nothing else. "Just don't know why we're here and the rest of the people aren't," Janette Aguero told ABC News. Without hesitation, I did exactly what she told me. The family's condo was on the ninth floor of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida. And we went down the stairs. The 60-year-old told WPLG she had to climb over rubble through the dark with her dog. And I feel like fate really God really came and saved us," he said. Crews searched for hours but were unable to find her, the report said. I closed the balcony doors. Miami, FL 33141 Friends she's staying with outfitted her with new clothes and a computer. They are. The condominium is a mix of full-time residents, seasonal residents, renters and short-term visitors, so authorities have been relying largely on neighbors and word of mouth, according to the official. The earthquake happened 100 miles off the coast of Florida and experts are weighing in whether it could have had anything to do with the Surfside condo collapse almost a week later. I mean, the bed was shaking. They were always, always offering assistance. It's still unclear what caused the condominium, which has withstood decades of hurricanes, to partially collapse. "We were screaming 'Help! Florida Gov. "I lost everything," Alvarez said, "and it doesnt mean anything to me.". "I know that they are hopeful, so we are hopeful as well.". Gabriel Nir narrowly escaped a first-floor apartment with his mother and 15-year-old sister. Copyright 2021 NPR. So far, only five people have been confirmed dead. I don't even know why. "I looked to my left and half of the apartment is gone, look forward and the elevator shaft is there and there's no elevator, it's just two holes," Aguero told NBC South Florida. OfeOsin-Cohen, anotherfourth-floor resident who escaped,told NBC's "Today" showshewassound asleepwhen she hearda weird sound and feltthe building shake. "People didn't want to answer they didn't know what was going on outside.". A massive search-and-rescue effort is underway following the partial collapse of a 12-story condominium building in Surfside, Miami, early June 24, 2021. The 12-story residential complex in the small, beachside town of Surfside, about 6 miles north of Miami Beach, partially collapsed before 1:30 a.m. local time on Thursday. "My initial reaction is wow, we were so lucky. We talked aboutitand we say it's about 15 feet that we survived by, if we had been 15 feet to the right, it would have gone down, or half of the apartment would have gone down," Aguero said. Furniture sits perched in the remains of apartments sheared in half, in the still standing portion of the Champlain Towers South condo building, more than a week after it partially collapsed. And in the pool area, you just see everything just sunk down below, underneath. The National Institute of Standards and Technology,the main federal agency conducting the probe, has said it expects the investigation to take at least two years, as every piece of evidence must be thoroughly analyzed, and all hypotheses evaluated,according to its latest statement. "We lost everything, so there's so many things that your mind goes crazy. At 11:05 a.m., about 10hours after the condo caved-in, the logs noted that rescuers lost voice contactwith a female victim and requested backup and canines to scour the basement. Thats a horrifying thought, Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told the outlet. Susana Alvarez fled her home on the 10th floor of Champlain Towers South, escaping with her life and almost nothing else. The flooded garage was located underneath the building's pool. But I'll - I know I can get myself back up on my feet. Yes, I want answers. The family reached the third floor, where they helped a young woman and an elderly residentget to the ground floor. At least two members of the family were seriously injured in the collapse one is still missing. ALVAREZ: It was. - Latest victims in condo tower collapse include 2 children Officials said Thursday that they're making plans for the likely demolition of all parts of the building that didn't collapse. Search efforts . I had this beautiful condo by the beach. At that point, I turned around. At approximately 1:20 a.m. on June 24, 2021, Champlain Towers South, a 12-story, 136-unit condo building at 8777 Collins Ave., Surfside . The second body was pulled out a short while later. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. Those are our neighbors. I go as near as I can. Mia, another cat, had been lying at the feet of her owner on . Survivors recount harrowing escape from collapsed condo. They're working around the clock and they're using every possible tool," she added. And we sat there with the town of Surfside. However, Figueiredo told him to stay because they do not get spend Wednesday nights together often. He and his wife got the kids from their beds and ran for their lives. As of Thursday . "They are going to basically have to start all over again," Capponi said. I want major answers. Just because the body gets mangled doesnt mean thats what killed you, Caprara said. Still, officials had resisted abandoning the search-and-rescue effort. "It was like a really loud clap of thunder. The structural engineer has been around for a while. Check out what's clicking on Foxnews.com. But all the material possessions they lost can be replaced, he said. All my friends were giving me luggage and clothes and things. About six months ago, the Nir family moved to Surfside, Florida. A woman who survived the collapse of a condo building in Florida said she escaped by climbing through the rubble in the dark with her dog. The action authorizes the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) "to coordinate all disaster relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in Miami-Dade County," according to a statement from the White House. The final missing person in the condominium building collapse in Surfside, Florida has been recovered and identified, according to the Miami-Dade County mayor. The whole experience, she told Today, was really surreal., Unfortunately, we did hear screams. They chose to live in Champlain Towers South. What we know about the building collapse so far. I ran to the balcony. She kept telling me what to do. "It felt like the whole building was shaking," Schechter said, adding that she went to look out the window. Rest of collapsed Miami tower brought down with explosives; 121 still missing. The condo collapse in Surfside, Florida has a Loudoun County man relieving and retelling his own horror story, after he was rescued from an apartment building collapse 20 years ago. Miami condo owners warned of major structural damage in 2018. ALVAREZ: Yes. From the balcony of his vacation rental in Unit 1106 right by the collapsed wing he saidhe saw a grey cloud covering the entire building. Nicholas Balboa was walking his dog around midnight when he felt the ground shake. First responders have not heard any voices coming from the pile but have continuously picked up sounds, according to Jadallah. ALVAREZ: I want answers. The remaining portion of the structure was demolished on July 4, and search efforts shifted into recovery mode. And they opened it, and I just ran. But I am homeless right now. They have been hampered by torrential rain and fires and have had to move with excruciating care. Raysa Rodriguez, a retired postal worker who lived at Champlain Towers South for 17 years and was close to paying off her mortgage, described in a lawsuit she filed against the condominium association how crashing sounds roused her from bed the night of the collapse. It was not a clap of thunder and it wasn't a storm; it was something else," Albert Aguero told ABC News' T.J. Holmes in an interview Friday on "Good Morning America.". 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. He followed the sound and located 15-year-old Jonah Handler, whose hand and fingers were visibly wiggling through the wreckage. It's unclear exactly how many residents have been displaced, but those with insurance policies should recoup at least a portion of their losses. Schechter said as soon as she got out, all she could think about were her neighbors that might have still been inside. "I walked out with my pajamas and my phone.". Rescue crews . He cannot help but wish, though, that a . Albert Aguero, his wife and two children, who are from New Jersey and on vacation in South . Authorities tallied a total of 98 deaths in what is one of the worst building collapses in U.S. history. She said she believed she is only one of two people from her floor who survived. And the fire escape door wouldn't open, but I saw people on the other side, and I banged. WSVN broadcast educational and informational programming for children, and file quarterly reports with the FCC detailing the station's outreach to children. He ran to his apartment to drop off his dog, and when he returned to the wreckage, he heard screaming under the rubble. "Its nothing short of amazing.". Copyright 2023 NBCUniversal Media, LLC. It was like 'Titanic,'" she said. "Pancake collapses tend to 'stack' floors on themselves, bringing all their weight down nearly square on the . About three dozen people were able to escape from the portion of the building that remained standing. The family's condo was on the ninth floor of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida. GARCIA-NAVARRO: But you know if you'd done that, you might have lost your life. The announcement came after search and rescue operations were paused for hours because of growing signs the structure was dangerously unstable. Profiles of the 98 victims of the Surfside collapse in Florida | Miami Herald. Updated on: July 14, 2021 / 9:25 PM They chose to live in Champlain Towers South. she told WPLG. Far more people have not been as fortunate; 32 people have been confirmed dead, and 113 remain unaccounted for as teams urgently search through the rubble for signs of life, officials said Tuesday. Sadly, no one . GARCIA-NAVARRO: As you just heard there, Ms. Alvarez said that the residents of Champlain Towers were reassured by a representative from the town of Surfside that the building was safe. Have you been able to sort of gather and sort of think about what's next? ALVAREZ: I was only thinking of myself. Support . No other survivors were found even after an international coalition of rescue workers labored for two weeks, working 24 hours a day, to dig through a 40-foot high pile of rubble. First published on July 14, 2021 / 2:21 PM. Rescuers are in a desperate bid to try and find survivors in Surfside, Fla., amid the wreckage of the Champlain Towers condo building. She quickly grabbed her dog and tried to evacuate, along with other residents, down the only staircase that was available. Florida Building Collapse: Death Toll Climbs To 18, With 145 Missing : Live Updates: Miami-Area Condo Collapse It has now been nearly a week since rescue crews last pulled anyone alive from the . My family's having a hard time," Gabe said. All rights reserved. While delayed maintenance and structural complications are widely considered the cause of the collapse, manyquestions about the disasterstill remain. He thought the ordeal could not be real, but he said he knew it was real when dust fell on his face and saw more of it out of his window. He said there was water damage to the complex, but that is common for oceanfront properties and wouldn't have caused the collapse. At least 12 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, The Saturday Six: Dental device controversy, scientist's bug find and more, Trump speaks at CPAC after winning straw poll, 3 children killed, 2 others wounded at Texas home, Man charged for alleged involvement in 2 transformer explosions, Nikki Haley slams potential GOP contenders, and Trump and George W. Bush, Duo of 81-year-old women plan to see the world in 80 days, Tom Sizemore, actor known for "Saving Private Ryan" and "Heat," dies at 61, Alex Murdaugh trial: What to know about the double murder case, Son shares how family survived condo collapse, Son shares how family survived Surfside condo building collapse. ABC News' Eliana Larramendia Boyd, Kendall Coughlin, Alexandra Faul, Christopher Godburn, Joshua Hoyos, Aaron Katersky, Rachel Katz, Katie Kindelan,. Did anyone survive the Surfside condo partial collapse? Susana, I want to ask you, first of all, how are you doing? "I don't have anything," said the 62-year-old survivor of the condominium building collapse just outside Miami. Discovery Company. A few seconds later, his bed and room began to shake and Rosenthal jumped out of bed to see what was happening. Get all the stories you need-to-know from the most powerful name in news delivered first thing every morning to your inbox. A woman who survived the collapse of a condo building in Florida has shared how she escaped. The familys condo was on the ninth floor of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida. "The whole bedroom was shaking so violently that, honestly, I was prepared for the whole building to come down," Janette Aguero added. Thats what saved me. Officials said Thursday they're making plans for the likely demolition of all parts of the building that didn't collapse. document.getElementById( "ak_js_1" ).setAttribute( "value", ( new Date() ).getTime() ); The familys condo was on the ninth floor of the 12-story Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Florida. Always. Your cat's name was Mia (ph), right? An investigation by USA Today found that at least nine of the 98 people killed in the tragedy initially survived the June 24 collapse, including one woman who was possibly still alive under the rubble 10 hours later. And I ran out the front door. In the early morning hours of June 24, Sara, Gabe and Chani were home but all three had a reason to be awake later than usual. What did you see? Before sprinting to the beachto safety, Aguero said thegroupcrawled up about three feet of rubble on the first floor andovercamea three-foot gapby the pool. "That was a very difficult night . That's when the family started hearing loud noises. All rights reserved, How to Help Victims of the Surfside Building Collapse, Deeply Emotional': Families of the Missing Visit Site of Florida Condo Collapse, Viral Kids' Star Ms. Rachel Is Taking a Break From Social Media After Backlash Over Co-Star Who Uses They/Them Pronouns, Washington Dulles International Airport (IAD), Flight Attendant Hit the Ceiling': 7 Hospitalized After Severe Turbulence Diverts Flight to Virginia, Check Your Change! What are you thinking at this moment? Yes. MIAMI BEACH, FLA. (WSVN) - Two residents of Champlain Towers South are sharing their stories of survival, with one resident describing what he felt inside the building, and one who said his girlfriend wanting to spend more time with him is what saved his life. "It's just sad. Jason Delgado is a reporter for the USA TODAY Network-Florida. The Champlain Towers South condominium was built in the 1980s and was up for its 40-year recertification, according to Surfside officials. 2023 www.tallahassee.com. ALVAREZ: I can't imagine. Was any of that shared with the rest of residents? Can you tell us what happened? They were the nicest couple. I think that it was a progressive evolution, and every hour that went by, we continued to add resources.. Residents of a partially-collapsed condo in Surfside, Florida, have spoken out about what they heard, felt, and saw during the disaster, as search and rescue efforts continue.
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