2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Discovery Company. Thanks for contacting us. I left my cat behind. Legal Statement. Sara picked up Gabe on her way home and they all arrived back at the building just before 1 a.m., he said. Surfside condo survivors recall traumatizing building collapse - TODAY.com The group came up against rubble blocking their path. The Dubai billionaires $120 million land purchase also will be used to pay families of victims and property owners. GARCIA-NAVARRO: But you know if you'd done that, you might have lost your life. One was a penthouse, the other on the first floor. 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. Victor Oquendo, Emily Shapiro, Ben Stein, Christine Theodorou and Nery Ynclan contributed to this report. / CBS News. "That was a very difficult night," Scheinhaus said. And we sat there with the town of Surfside. SURFSIDE As many as nine of the 98 victims who died in the worst building collapse in modern U.S. history might have survived the initial cave-in, a USA Today investigation suggests . I was going to retire there. 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. Just because the body gets mangled doesnt mean thats what killed you, Caprara said. I won't leave. - 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. Susana Alvarez fled her home on the 10th floor of Champlain Towers South, escaping with her life and almost nothing else. I thought it was a wonderful property because I was so happy. What did you see? Florida man walking dog near condo collapse rescues boy from rubble 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. Its the only way they can heal.. But, The June 24 collapse killed 97 people 96 bodies were pulled from the debris and one died at a hospital after being removed and. That is what they said, OK? The roof was also undergoing work and the entire building had been under scrutiny due to potential construction projects nearby, officials said. What we know about the building that partially collapsed in Surfside, Florida. GARCIA-NAVARRO: Susana Alvarez, thank you very much for talking with us. Death Toll Climbs To 18 In The Surfside Condo Collapse, With 145 Missing We talked until 1 in the morning, De Moura said. "I don't have anything," said the 62-year-old survivor of the condominium . Rest of collapsed Miami tower brought down with explosives; At a news conference Monday, Mayor Daniella Levine Cava announced that the final missing persons family had been notified following the identification of the individuals remains, formally ending the search. Mr. Candiotti, 67, knows he was lucky to have survived the collapse last month of the condo building in Surfside, Fla. At least 97 of his neighbors did not. While delayed maintenance and structural complications are widely considered the cause of the collapse, manyquestions about the disasterstill remain. Surfside condo collapse: There may have been more survivors in Florida The Miami-Dade Police Department is leading an investigation into the incident. Miami condo owners warned of major structural damage in 2018. "We said, 'We have to run, don't take anything,'" Longobardi recalled during an interview Friday on "GMA" with ABC News' T.J. Holmes. "At that point, we knew it was a race against time because I didn't know if the rest of the building was coming [down].". The couple lived in apartment No. "As soon as she goes down to the front, I hear this loud rumble. The Associated Press contributed to this story. 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. Instead she's been sleeping in a chair, constantly thinking of the victims who couldn't escape. They were the nicest couple. Miami, FL 33141 Areas where land is subsiding are more likely to experience more serious effects of sea level rise, according to the study, which was published in the international journal Ocean & Coastal Management. Initially, 150 people were thought to be missing. "The building swayed like a sheet of paper. Paolo Longobardi, who lives in the Champlain Towers South with his wife and two children, said he also awoke to loud noises and saw part of the building collapse. OfeOsin-Cohen, anotherfourth-floor resident who escaped,told NBC's "Today" showshewassound asleepwhen she hearda weird sound and feltthe building shake. As of Wednesday, officials said 75 people were confirmed dead and 90 of the victims have been identified. But her mother, Angela Gonzalez, and her sister, Deven Gonzalez, did survive. 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 couple fled down the emergencystairwell, but couldn't open the lobby door. . The announcement came after search and rescue operations were paused for hours because of growing signs the structure was dangerously unstable. A survivor of the Florida condo collapse said she had to climb through Schechter said as soon as she got out, all she could think about were her neighbors that might have still been inside. ", Now they have to rebuild their lives from scratch. A family who survived the Surfside condominium collapse said they were mere feet from losing their lives. About six months ago, the Nir family moved to Surfside, Florida. They managed to survive the collapse after Sara Nir heard loud noises and then saw the parking deck collapse. I couldnt tell where it was coming from.. Sharon Schechter, 60, described her escape to WPLG, saying she believes she was only one of two people who survived from her floor when the 12-story oceanfront Champlain Towers South near Miami partially collapsed early Thursday morning. How long can survivors of Miami high-rise collapse survive under rubble? Im like, All right, Im in the middle of it. Susana, I want to ask you, first of all, how are you doing? I was sleeping, and I heard the loudest thunderclap Ive heard in my life times 100, he said. Teen, mom survived falling several floors in condo collapse - Los I - and I just want my cat back. Firefighters on Friday declared the end of their search for bodies at the site of a collapsed Florida condo building, concluding a month of painstaking work removing . 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. He and his wife got the kids from their beds and ran for their lives. They came out, and then I said, we got to get out of here. ", "It's a tremendous tragedy," he said, after taking a moment to collect himself. I mean, the bed was shaking. That complete side of the building was not there, Mariantold the Miami Herald. Their condo in Surfside had collapsed, and they had just narrowly survived. Survivors recounted hearing signs of the collapse and attempting to escape the building early Thursday morning. Not only were they working against the instability of the structure, but rescuers also battled underground flooding, fires,smoke and wind and rain from Tropical Storm Elsa. "People were yelling, 'help me, get me out, help me.'". The Champlain Towers South Condo Association was preparing to start a new construction project to make updates and the condominium had been through extensive inspections, according to Kenneth Direktor, a lawyer for the association. Its about the lives that are there.. The uncle said that Jonah was out of the hospital with only minor injuries, according to Balboa. The 60-year-old told WPLG she had to climb over rubble through the dark with her dog. Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava speaks to ABC News for an interview on "Good Morning America" on June 25, 2021. One year later, heres what we know so far. Jeff Pias, 60, was staying with his . (CNN) After several weeks of searching and waiting for news on victims from the Champlain Towers South condominium collapse in Surfside, Florida, all 242 people have been accounted for. 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. Most residents were asleep. It wasnt about my home. After a failed attempt duringthe 2022 legislative session, lawmakers in May returned to Tallahasseeandpassed legislation designed to prevent a similar disaster. 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. Nicholas Balboa said he had been walking his dog past midnight on June 24 when he felt the ground shake and saw that a major section of the condo complex had collapsed. And she got the last condo in a 16-unit building that was opened up rent-free to Surfside survivors for the month of July. 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." "Nothing like this has ever been seen, at least not in the 40 years I've been doing this," Direktor told ABC News. The NIST received $22 million in supplemental funding from Congress to complete its investigation. Was any of that shared with the rest of residents? Surfside condo collapse victim Luis Pettengill played college tennis at Indianas Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, from which he graduated in 2007. After he saw the damage on TV, De Moura said he had to drive his car to the condo building to see it for himself.