By Rachel Sharp For Dailymail.com
Published: 15:03 EDT, 1 July 2021 | Updated: 17:15 EDT, 1 July 2021
Dramatic footage of water pouring into the underground garage of the Miami condo tower just minutes before it collapsed is likely part of the flooding and leaks that have corroded the metal and concrete in the building's base for decades, according to an expert.
Dr. Mehrooz Zamanzadeh, a corrosion engineering expert, told DailyMail.com he believes the deadly disaster at Champlain Towers South last Thursday was the result of accelerated corrosion of the 12-story building's lower level.
This corrosion was likely caused by the salt in both the chlorinated pool water and in the sea water that may have seeped into the foundations of the shoreline property and leaked through the 'failing' waterproofing on the pool deck, he said.
The salt water slowly corroded the concrete and rebar (the steel bars used to reinforce the concrete) and load-bearing members (the concrete pillars holding up the likes of the parking garage), reducing the thickness of these critical support structures over years.
Zamanzadeh said the disaster was 'decades' in the making, with the new footage from the garage showing 'there was leakage and flooding due to more likely than not accelerated corrosion of load-bearing members.'
The video, posted to TikTok by Adriana Sarmiento, shows water gushing from the ceiling of the gated garage beneath the north side of the tower while concrete debris litters the floor.
It was filmed at 1.18am on June 24, just seven minutes before the building was reported to have collapsed at around 1.25am.
A new video shows water gushing from the ceiling of the Miami condo building's garage while concrete debris litters the floor
Just three minutes before the footage was shot, a witness said she saw the pool deck collapsing.
Resident Sara Nir told CNN she started hearing 'knocking sounds' in the building around 12.30 am but at first thought neighbors must be doing 'major construction.'
She told The Washington Post she then heard a loud noise like a wall falling down at 1.14am.
She said she left her apartment to complain to a security guard and was in the lobby at roughly 1.15am when she saw that part of the pool deck had collapsed into the underground parking garage below.
She and her two children fled the building.
Around three minutes later at 1.18am, the footage of the water pouring into the garage was shot by Sarmiento who was on vacation and staying with her husband at the neighboring Bluegreen Vacations Solara Surfside Resort.
The first part of Champlain Towers South then collapsed between 1.24 and 1.25 am, according to EMS audio.
The collapse started from the bottom of the central building, with that part of the tower falling from its base down. Seconds later, the section behind the center collapsed, followed by the east section moments later.
Based on witness accounts, footage from the scene and 911 calls, only around 10 minutes passed between the pool deck collapsing and the final section of the building tumbling to the ground.
Despite the pool deck collapsing, the pool itself was still filled with water in the days after the collapse.
Zamanzadeh told DailyMail.com, having watched the video of the garage flooding, he could not say for definite what the source of the water was.
He said it could be 'a burst pipe or from the [apparently newly-collapsed] pool deck or both.'
However, what it does show is 'flooding water' which, from his expertise, 'has been happening in different intensities for many years' in the condo building.
It is also further evidence that the collapse was likely caused by 'accelerated corrosion', he said.
The new footage was taken in the minutes before the north side of Champlain Towers South collapsed last Thursday
The video was taken at 1:18 a.m. on June 24 from across 88th Street. It is likely part of the flooding and leaks that have corroded the metal and concrete in the building's base for decades, according to an expert
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Most of the board members of the Miami condo board resigned in 2019, with the president of the board slamming inaction and bickering over an engineer's report calling for urgent repairs.
Board president Anette Goldstein was among five members of the seven-person board who resigned in a two-week period in the fall of 2019, according to meeting minutes reported by the Washington Post.
Goldstein's resignation letter shows the board was consumed with infighting over an October 2018 report by engineering firm Morabito Consultants, which identified key issues with weakening concrete and called for drastic renovations costing some $15 million.
'We work for months to go in one direction and at the very last minute objections are raised that should have been discussed and resolved right in the beginning,' Goldstein wrote in a September 2019 resignation letter.
Goldstein and several other board members who quit later returned to the board, according to the Post.
'We can see evidence of accelerated corrosion from corrosive water - either from the pool or sea water - flooding the lower floor,' he said.
'More likely than not the collapse started in the lower floors possibly from the garage area, with crack propagation and the fracture of load-bearing members within the garage through the accelerated corrosion of the rebar and the steel as the primary cause by corrosive water flooding.'
The salt in the sea water and in the chlorine used in pool water makes the liquid more corrosive than usual, he explained.
Such critical corrosion narrows the thickness of the rebars in the lower floor area and causes fractures, which may lead to the eventual collapse of the building.
Then, a final contributing factor that triggered the collapse on the doomed night may have been a slight movement - or subsidence - in the ground beneath the tower which the already weakened rebar and load-bearing members could not withstand, he said.
As well as the new video, Zamanzadeh pointed to several reasons for reaching this conclusion.
Photos from the collapse site and a 2018 survey show 'less than adequate cover of concrete over the rebar in the garage area' indicating that moisture and salt water has corroded the concrete.
He also pointed out that the garage was known to have poor drainage with residents often complaining about flooding.
A consultant engineer warned in a damning October 2018 report that the 12-story had 'major structural damage' to the pool deck area and underground parking garage.
The structural field survey report, released by the town of Surfside overnight Friday, specifically raised concerns about the pool deck area, in which the waterproofing was failing, and the underground parking garage which was riddled with 'abundant' cracking.
Consultant Frank Morabito carried out the inspection to assess the overall condition of the building and recommend any structural issues in need of repair, as the building neared its 40-year standing and in turn its need for recertification under local regulation.
In the report, he warned that the 'main issue' was the pool deck and entrance drive area.
Morabito wrote that the waterproofing below the pool deck and entrance drive was failing' and 'beyond its useful life and therefore must all be completely removed and replaced.'
Photos taken less than 48 hours before the collapse in the pool equipment room located in the basement parking garage, show extensive concrete spalling and corroded rebar
A contractor took these photos and noticed that in the actual parking garage, there were puddles of water which were in the direct spot beneath the leaking pool deck
Photos from a 2018 report show spalling with exposed steel reinforcement in the garage area of the condo building
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The report warned that the failed waterproofing was 'causing major structural damage to the concrete structural slab below these areas.'
'Failure to replace the waterproofing in the near future will cause the extent of the concrete deterioration to expand exponentially,' it read.
Zamanzadeh told DailyMail.com this 'failing' waterproofing also indicates moisture and water being entrapped 'for many, many years' - potentially flooding under the pool deck for some time.
'The water is not new, water has been there for many many years,' he said.
Less than 48 hours before the collapse, a contractor had also taken photos in the pool equipment room located in the basement parking garage.
The images, obtained by Miami Herald, show extensive concrete spalling and corroded rebar with the contractor noticing that in the actual parking garage, there were puddles of water directly beneath the leaking pool deck.
The contractor, who has not been named, was putting together a bid to redo the pool and the pool equipment room - but was taken aback by the damage.
Zamanzadeh said accelerated corrosion caused by the flooding has likely been going on for '20 or 30 years.'
He hit out at the current local rules that the building must be recertified only every 40 years but also said the issue was not picked up because the 2018 survey only looked at it from a structural engineering standpoint and not a corrosion engineering standpoint.
'This is not just a structural cracking problem, this is also a corrosion problem,' he said.
Corrosion mapping should also be performed for condo tower certifications, he said, to look at the thickness of the concrete around the rebars and load-bearing members - particularly for buildings on the sea front which are at increased risk of such corrosion due to their proximity to the salt in the ocean.
'All nearby buildings should undergo corrosion mapping of their load-bearing members [the concrete pillars like those holding up the garage],' he urged.
'A 40 year recertification doesn't make sense. It should be less - maybe 20 or 15 depending on the corrosivity of the environment.
'If this had been looked at 15-20 years ago and they'd looked for evidence of accelerated corrosion, they wouldn't have had a disaster.'
He added: 'This is not a one-night event. It wasn't a sudden failure, it was a long time coming because of the accelerated corrosion, loss in thickness and then when it gets critical - it goes and is catastrophic.'
While questions continue to mount about the cause of the disaster, the search for survivors has been halted indefinitely due to fears the remaining structure could now topple.
Rescue efforts were halted and the area around the building was cleared just after 2am Thursday - almost exactly one week to the minute on from the collapse at 1.25am on June 24.
An aerial view of the site Thursday while the rescue operation remains on hold due to concerns the remaining part of the building will also fall
Dr. Mehrooz Zamanzadeh, a corrosion engineering expert, told DailyMail.com he believes the deadly disaster at Champlain Towers South last Thursday was the result of accelerated corrosion of its lower level
A close up of the rubble taken on June 24, just a few hours after the collapse, show how part of the pool deck had given way to and crumbled
An expert said the corrosion was likely caused by the salt in both the chlorinated pool water and in the sea water that may have seeped into the foundations of the shoreline property and leaked through the 'failing' waterproofing on the pool deck. The salt water slowly corroded the concrete and steel in the rebar, and reduced the thickness of these critical support structures. Above shows how the pool deck crumbled - at ground level - into the underground parking level beneath it
A Florida building inspector who assured residents the tower was in good shape a month after being warned otherwise is having all of his previous work reviewed after being suspended from his new job.
Rosendo Prieto was chief building official of Surfside until November 2020.
In October 2018 Frank Morabito, an engineer, warned Prieto of 'major structural damage' in the Champlain Towers South building he said would cost around $9 million to repair. Morabito had been commissioned by the residents' association to look into the building, ahead of its 40-year structural review, due in 2021.
That November 2018, Prieto told residents he had reviewed Morabito's report and found little of concern.
'It appears the building is in very good shape,' Prieto told them, according to the minutes of the meeting released by Surfside on Monday, and obtained by NBC News.
On Tuesday, Priesto was placed on leave from his job as interim building official for C.A.P. Government Inc.
Now, city officials in Doral said they were reviewing his previous work citing 'an abundance of caution' to make sure he didn't clear other buildings that may be dangerous.
Meanwhile, it has also been revealed that the entire building department for the town of Surfside was under review at the time of the collapse.
Town manager Guillermo Olmedillo put the department under review in January 2019, reported the Miami Herald. A memorandum, which was addressed to Prieto, called for inspectors to be immediately reachable, with the deliverance of a weekly schedule of inspections.
It was considered a last-ditch effort before Olmedillo potentially looked to outsource the department away from the town and towards the county. The minutes from the November 2018 meeting stated: 'The permit process, balcony railings, concrete restoration, and waterproofing was discussed.'
The day after the meeting, Prieto wrote in an email to then-town manager Olmedillo that 'it went very well.'
Officials said the site had become unstable and could topple on search and rescue teams, with technology used to monitor cracks sounding alarms about the dangers and on-site experts warning of movements in the structure.
The west section of the building is still standing and has been closely monitored during the search as rescue teams have combed through the rubble round the clock.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said in a Thursday morning press conference that 'structural concerns' had led to the halting of the search and rescue operation earlier that morning.
'We were forced to halt operations on the the collapse in the early hours of the morning due to structural concerns about the standing structure,' she said.
Cava vowed to resume the search as soon as it is safe to do so as she said the safety of rescue teams was 'paramount.'
'We're doing everything that we can to ensure that the safety of our first responders is paramount and to continue our search and rescue operations as soon as it is safe to do so,' she said.
'And our engineers are continuing to monitor the structure as we've paused operations to evaluate the situation and all possible options and next steps including with the assistance of the state engineers.'
Miami-Dade County Fire Chief Alan Cominsky revealed that first responders had been pulled back when three alarms monitoring cracks in the partially collapsed building went off, signaling crews were in danger.
He said this indicated there had been 'some expansion' in the cracks.
Six to 12 inches of movement had also been noted in a large column that was hanging from the structure that experts warned could fall and cause damage to support structures, keeping the shell of the building upright.
Cominsky said search and rescue teams had been 'working in a very, very, unsafe environment' as he admitted he did not know how long the operation would be on hold.
'I don't have a timeframe now,' he said.
As of 4.30pm local time, the search was yet to resume as experts worked out how to proceed safely - costing valuable time as hopes of finding anyone else alive increasingly fade.
Surfside Mayor Charles Burkett told NBC News officials are considering carrying out a controlled demolition of the part of Champlain Towers South that is still standing as the search is yet to resume more than 12 hours after it was called off in the early hours of Thursday morning.
'If the existing building is a problem, then we need to eliminate that problem quickly,' he said.
The need to resume the search quickly comes as 145 people remain missing in the rubble more than one week on from the condo tower's collapse and as the collapse site is now in danger of being hammered by a tropical storm charting its path across the Atlantic this week.
An aerial view of the collapsed building Thursday. Zamanzadeh said the disaster was 'decades' in the making due to longstanding corrosion
Rescue efforts at the Miami condo tower were forced to come to a halt Thursday amid fears the remaining structure could topple on search and rescue teams
Burkett told NBC's Geoff Bennett this impending adverse weather was raising further concerns about the structural integrity of the remains of the 12-story tower.
'If the [remaining] building is going to fall, we should make sure it falls the right way,' he said.
Structural engineer Scott Nacheman, who is working at the site with FEMA, told the families desperately waiting for news about their loved ones that demolition of the rest of the building was an option.
'One of our concepts of operations is exactly what you're talking about,' Nacheman said, according to Miami New Times.
'And the reason it hasn't been possibly pursued further at this point is we didn't want to cause any more damage or destruction to the individuals who are trapped in the low portion
'We're now getting to a point in the operation where we're exploring the next phase. One of those possibilities, a very highly likely possibility, is what you just discussed.'
However, demolishing the building could hamper the search further by adding more rubble for teams to wade through and posing a greater risk to anyone who may still be alive in the rubble, the engineer said.
Allyn Kilsheimer, the structural engineer hired by Surfside to investigate the collapse, told CNN computer models are being used to determine what wind and storm conditions the remaining structure and collapse site can withstand.
'We are doing computer models of what kind of wind force causes what kind of stress, and, therefore, it's possible that at a certain wind force, the building is still standing,' he said.
'For eight or nine or 10 hours, it might have to - the recovery effort might have to stop to get people away from there. But we're doing the computer modeling to try and confirm those different numbers.'
Officials are facing the prospect that the search could be hampered further over the coming days by a tropical storm that threatens to strike Miami-Dade early next week.
Search and rescue teams look for possible survivors in the partially collapsed 12-story condo tower Wednesday
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Tropical Storm Elsa formed over the tropical Atlantic early Thursday morning, with all of South Florida now in its potential path.
National Hurricane Center forecasters said Elsa, now the fifth named storm of the season, could take aim at Miami-Dade county by Monday - marking a blow to the county currently grappling with the aftermath of the condo collapse. Palm Beach and Broward counties are also within its potential path.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said Thursday morning the state was 'actively monitoring' the storm and coming up with contingency plans for if and when it strikes.
'Obviously the state meteorologist team is actively monitoring the storm and will continue to provide updates and our department of emergency management continues to implement contingency plans for potential tropical weather impacts including identifying alternate work facilities,' he said in the press briefing.
Elsa had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph with higher gusts and was 865 miles east-southeast of the Windward Islands, according to the National Hurricane Center.
The collapse site is now in danger of being hammered by Tropical Storm Elsa which is charting its path across the Atlantic this week
All of South Florida including Miami-Dade is now in its potential path to be hit Monday or Tuesday
Tropical-storm-force winds extend outward up to 105 miles from the center and it was moving west at 25 mph.
An even faster motion to the west-northwest is expected over the next 24 to 36 hours.
The storm is expected to pass near or over portions of the Windward Islands or the southern Leeward Islands on Friday, move into the eastern Caribbean Sea late Friday and Friday night, and move near the southern coast of Hispaniola on Saturday.
The storm - which forecasters warn could increase to a hurricane - could carry on its track to Florida by early next week, with the southern part of the state currently in the cone for potential impacts.
Forecasters said it was too early to tell for certain if Florida will be impacted by the storm.
This will depend on whether Elsa's track from Saturday. If the storm tracks further south it may well avoid Florida but if it tracks north the area the state will likely be in its path.
Now, more than one week on from the tragedy, 145 people remain missing in the rubble.
More bodies were pulled from the debris Wednesday, taking the confirmed dearth toll to 18.
The latest victims were identified as two young sisters Lucia Guara, 10, and Emma Guara, 4, whose parents were previously also confirmed among the dead.
President Joe Biden met with fire and rescue personnel in Florida Thursday who are engaged in the wrenching and laborious task of contending with the devastating building collapse and its aftermath, telling the responders 'What you're doing is incredible.'
Biden scheduled a meeting with dozens of first responders soon after arriving at a hotel blocks from the disaster seen of the Champlain Tower collapse.
'I just want you to know - I understand,' he told them. 'I just want to say: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you,' he told them.'
Biden met the responders, who wore Miami-Dade Fire and Rescue jackets, FEMA patches, and police uniforms, at the St. Regis hotel in Bar Harbour, where he is devoting a day to meeting with families, public officials, and responders.
At one point, he recounted how first responders used 'jaws of life' to pry his children out of the vehicle during the 1972 car crash that took his first wife, Neilia, as well as his infant daughter, Naomi.
'What you're doing is incredible,' President Joe Biden told first responders are responding to the tragic building collapse in Surfside, Florida
He urged them to 'be careful' in the work, amid concerns that shifting or instability in the rubble could pose a risk. Work was suspended after about 2 am amid the safety concerns.
'I promise you: I know. What you're doing here is incredible,' he told them.
'What you’re doing now is just hard as hell to deal with, even psychologically, to deal with,' he said.
The event was a photo 'spray,' and reporters weren't invited to stay for long. Other notables, including Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Sen. Marco Rubio, arrived shortly after it began, with an apology from staff.
His visit came on a day when work was being suspended indefinitely due to safety issues.
When Biden met with families, he did so away from the cameras, although staff and other public officials were there.
According to the White House, the president delivered brief remarks from the center of a room. He went table to table to meet with family members. The first lady, Rubio, Scott, and DeSantis were there.
Others also went table-to-table, according to a senior administration official. 'POTUS stayed until everyone had a chance to speak with him,' said the official, using an acronym for the president.
Earlier, Biden told DeSantis 'we're here to help' shortly before he met with rescue crews looking for the 145 people still missing in the rubble of the collapsed Miami condo and spoke to officials leading the recovery.
He spoke to the 'a lot of pain and anxiety, suffering' of families awaiting the final word on their relatives as search efforts were halted over fears the rest of the structure could fall on first responders.
'We're not going anywhere,' Biden promised, as he spoke of the federal response, which includes dispatching FEMA and a promise of federal aide. 'For real,' he added, for emphasis.
Biden met with dozens of responders, and urged them to take caution, telling them 'I understand'
Biden met with responders after a meeting with Florida state and local political leaders about the response
Most of the board members of the condominium that collapsed last week resigned in 2019, with the president of the board slamming inaction and bickering over an engineers report calling for urgent repairs
Joe Biden family in 1972 appears on a postcard that was used for Biden's first campaign for the U.S. Senate. Pictured are (l-r) Hunter Biden, Neilia Biden and infant daughter Naomi Biden, Joe Biden, and Beau Biden
This is the remains of the car in which the wife and daughter of Delaware's U.S. Senator-elect Joseph R. Biden Junior were killed. Neilia Biden and her daughter, Amy, 1, were killed when the family's station wagon was hit broadside by a flat-bed tractor-trailer on highway. Biden's two other children were also hurt in the wreck and were listed in "guarded condition" at the hospital
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'Tell me what you need?' he told officials who gathered in the St. Regis hotel blocks away from the site.
Biden was seated next to DeSantis, as well as Daniella Levine Cava, the mayor of Miami-Dade County. He was seated across from two Republican rivals, Sen. Rick Scott and Marco Rubio of Florida, Scott sporting the same familiar Navy cap he wore on disaster visits with former President Donald Trump.
'You know what's good about this?' Biden said: 'It lets the nation know we can cooperate...that's really important.'
'We're here to help,' Biden told officials. He also told DeSantis, 'This is your show.' DeSantis also paid Biden a compliment. 'We've had no bureaucracy,' DeSantis told him.
'You recognized the severity of this tragedy from day one, and you’ve been very supportive,' DeSantis told the president.
'It's been an incredible collaboration from the beginning,' said Cava as the officials traded compliments while the cameras rolled.
'There's an amazing story, and lives have been shattered irrevocably as a result of this,' DeSantis said at the meeting when it was his turn to speak. 'We've already identified unfortunately fatalities, people who've been 92 years old and the matriarch of a wonderful family. We have families with kids missing. And we even have young newlyweds, who hadn't even been married a year that were in the tower when it collapsed.'
'The cooperation has been, it's been great, the local and both the municipal and the county have been fantastic,' he said. 'And you guys have not only been supportive at the federal level, but we've had no bureaucracy,' he said. He said FEMA approvals were happening 'in no time.'
President Biden meets with Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis at a briefing at the collapse of the Miami condo
Biden spoke of the 'pain and anxiety, suffering' of families awaiting the final word on their relatives who lived in the collapsed building
Workers peer up at the rubble pile at the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building
DeSantis thanked rescue teams who traveled from Virginia and other locales to assist. 'That's going to be helpful because this is grueling, and obviously the families' lives have been shattered.'
The president, who speaks frequently of grief and has bonded with families of school shooting victims and others touched by loss by invoking his own life tragedies, is making the trip at an uncertain time.
There is new information coming in about water damage that may have triggered the collapse, and documents revealing the condo building's efforts to contend with ballooning roof and structural repair estimates.
The death toll rose to 18 on Wednesday night, with sisters Lucia, 10, and Emma Guara, four, among the latest victims identified.
White House deputy press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the White House selected Thursday for the visit after consulting with local officials. She declined to weigh in when asked if Biden approved for former President Donald Trump's decision to hold a campaign rally in Sarasota, about 200 miles from the wreckage.
A former Trump aide anonymously blasted the decision in the Washington Examiner. 'What, you're gonna go across and do a rally and beat up Democrats? It's tone-deaf,' said the aide.
There were reports early Thursday morning that recovery efforts had to be paused amid instability in the pile of rubble where part of the tower north of Miami once stood.
U.S. Coast Guard boats patrol in front of the partially collapsed Champlain Towers South condo building during Biden's visit
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden depart from Joint Base Andrews en route to Miami, Florida, to visit the site of the collapsed condo where 18 have died and 145 are still missing. They were joined by Col. William McDonald, 89th Airlift Wing Vice Commander, and his wife Diana
Biden salutes at the top of the stairs to Air Force One with Jill before their flight to Florida early Thursday morning
Stacie Dawn Fang, 54, was with her son Jonah Handler, a teenager, when the building collapsed. They lived on the tenth floor. The boy's small hand waved through the wreckage as a man out walking his dog hurried to the site, climbed through a pile of glass and rebar and promised to get help right away.
Rescuers helped the boy out from under a pile of cement and carried him away on a stretcher to a hospital.
'There are no words to describe the tragic loss of our beloved Stacie,' members of her family said in a statement. 'Many heartfelt words of encouragement and love have served as a much needed source of strength during this devastating time.'
Asked about the boy's condition, a family friend, Lisa Mozloom told the AP 'He will be fine. He's a miracle.'
Manuel LaFont, 54, was a proud father, a baseball fan and a business consultant who lived on the building's eighth floor.
He had a 10-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter with his ex-wife Adriana LaFont, the Miami Herald reported.
Adriana asked her friends on Facebook to pray the rosary for Manny before his body was found. 'So many memories inside the walls that are no more today, forever engraved experiences in the heart,' she wrote.
LaFont, a Houston native, coached his son's baseball team, the Astros, at North Shore Park, just a mile away from the Champlain. He was a parishioner at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Miami Beach. The parish's school parents gathered Saturday afternoon to pray for LaFont and his neighbors who were still missing.
An alumnus of Sharpstown High School in Houston, LaFont had worked across Latin America and the Caribbean for a manufacturing firm, leading a division focusing on roadway safety that built crash cushions and moveable barriers, the Herald reported.
'I got into this industry specifically because I don't want to sell widgets. I want to help people. I want to do something good in this world,' he said at an industry conference in 2016. 'When I die, I want to say that my life meant something.'
Antonio and Gladys Lozano lived on the ninth floor. The two had known each other over 60 years and would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary on July 21.
Their sons told WPLG-TV that the couple had joked neither wanted to die before the other, because neither wanted to live without the other. Their one solace, the brothers said, was that they were together when they died.
Authorities confirmed on Saturday that Antonio, 83, and Gladys, 79, were among the dead.
Sergio Lozano said he had dinner with his parents hours before the collapse. He lived in one of the towers of the complex and could see his parents' apartment across the way from his. That night, he said the heard a loud noise they thought could be a storm.
'The building is not there,' he said he told his wife. 'My parents' apartment is not there. It's gone.'
ANA ORTIZ, HER HUSBAND FRANK AND HER SON LUIZ
Ana Ortiz, left, and her son Luis Bermudez and Leon Oliwkowicz and his wife Christina (right)
Luis Bermudez, of San Juan, Puerto Rico, had battled with muscular dystrophy for years and used a wheelchair. The 26-year-old man lived with his mother Ana Ortiz on the seventh floor of the Champlain Towers South.
His father, also named Luis Bermudez, texted the AP saying 'my son is a hero.' He also wrote on Facebook that he could not believe he's gone.
'Now rest in peace and without any obstacles in heaven,' he wrote. 'I will see you soon my Luiyo.'
Ortiz, 46, had just gotten married with Frankie Kleiman. Alex Garcia, the couple's close friend, told The Miami Herald he had set them up on a blind date. Kleiman lived with his wife and stepson on the same floor as his brother Jay Kleiman, who was in town for a funeral, and their mother Nancy Kress Levin. The Kleimans and their mother are still missing.
50-year-old Frank Kleiman, left, was found on Monday. He was Ana's husband
Ortiz was described as a woman who was committed to giving her son the best possible life.
'She´s a rock star. And gorgeous," Garcia told the Herald. "And on top of that a super mom.
Kleiman, 50, was the husband of Ana Ortiz, whose body was found alongside that of her disabled son, Luiz, over the weekend.
Leon Oliwkowicz and his wife Christina were also identified as victims of the tower collapse on Sunday evening
The couple lived on the 8th floor of the condo tower for several years, according to Venezuelan journalist Shirley Varnagy, a close friend of their family.
They were among six Venezuelan natives caught in the building's collapse. Still missing Monday were Moisés Rodán, 28; Andrés Levine, 27; Luis Sadovnik, 28, and his wife, Nicole Langesfeld, Varnagy said.
Varnagy said the Oliwkowicz's daughter had been outside the building waiting for some information about their fate. Her husband answered their phone and asked to be left alone.
The couple's daughter, Mrs. Leah Fouhal, works as a secretary at a Jewish school in the Rogers Park neighborhood of Chicago, where the couple donated a Torah in 2019 in a procession that included a vintage fire truck, music and a giant velvet and gold crown, according to COLlive.com, an Orthodox Jewish news outlet that covers Chabad-Lubavitch communities around the world.
Meanwhile, the parents of Rodán, Levine and Sadovnik live in Venezuela and traveled to the U.S. Friday. 'Some did not have a visa, others had an expired passport, but with diplomatic collaboration they were able to arrive,' Varnagy said.
The body of 52-year-old Marcus Joseph Guara was recovered on Saturday
Hilda Noriega (pictured) was named by her family Wednesday as the 12th confirmed victim of the tragedy
Hilda Noriega, who lived in Apt. 602 in the 12-story tower, was the mother of North Bay Village Police Chief Carlos Noriega.
She had only recently celebrated her 92nd birthday.
Her body was discovered among the remains of the condo tower Tuesday.
Her family paid tribute to the 'matriarch of the family' in a statement Wednesday.
Noriega's son had traveled to the collapse site Thursday to look for his mother, who had only recently celebrated her 92nd birthday.
Among the rubble, the police chief found a birthday card a relative had given to Noriega at a brunch, reported Local10.
Emma Guara, 4, Lucia Guara, 10, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, and Marcus Guara, 52
Miami-Dade police identified 10-year-old Lucia Guara and 4-year-old Emma Guara as victims in the condo collapse on Wednesday, June 30.
The remains of their father, Marcus Guara, 52, were pulled from the rubble Saturday and identified Monday. The girls and their mother, Anaely Rodriguez, 42, were recovered Wednesday.
The family lived on the eighth floor of the condo.
Bonnie and David Epstein were on the ninth floor when the building gave way. Their son, Jonathan, who lives in New York City said he hasn't been able to contact them.
'I'm trying to be a little optimistic, but I just don't see it,' he told WJXT.
'It just doesn't seem real, you know? Why this building? It doesn't make sense. I don't know. I'm struggling to make sense of it.'
Bonnie and David Epstein were on the ninth floor when the building gave way. Authorities identified David's body on Sunday. His wife was found days earlier
On Sunday, Miami-Dade police identified David, 58, as one of the 24 people known to have perished in the fallen tower. His remains were recovered on Friday.
Bonnie's body was recovered days earlier. She was 56 years old.
The couple, who worked in real estate investments, moved to Florida to retire early so that they could pursue their love of water sports, according to a friend.
Richard Oller, a friend of the couple, wrote on Facebook that David and Bonnie lived on the ninth floor of the building with their dog.
GRACIELA CATTAROSSI AND STELLA CATTAROSSI
Seven-year-old Stella Cattarossi's body was found alongside her mother Graciela, 48
A Miami firefighter was present when the body of his seven-year-old daughter was recovered from the rubble of the Surfside condo catastrophe in Florida.
Officials said the body of Stella Cattarossi was found Tursday, seven days after the collapse of Champlain South Tower which has left 22 confirmed dead and 126 still missing.
Friends posting online said the girl was found sleeping alongside her 48-year-old mother Graciela. Authorities later confirmed that both mother and daughter were found.
They were staying with Graciella's elderly parents, Graciela and Gino Cattarossi, who have not been identified, but are also unaccounted for.
Stella's father Enrique Arango - a ten-year veteran of the Miami Fire Rescue department - is a member of the rescue team who found the girl and was present when her body was recovered.
He had been on the site with his brother.
Graciela’s sister Andrea, an architect based in Pilar, Argentina, was visiting at the time of the disaster. She is also still missing.
Gonzalo Torre, 81, whose remains were found on Saturday, lived at the condo.
MARICOY OBIAS-BONNEFOY AND CLAUDIO BONNEFOY
The bodies of Chilean national Claudio Bonnefo, 85, and his wife Maria 'Maricoy' Obias-Bonnefoy, 69, were identified by authorities.
They were among at least 36 people from Latin American nations that are missing, according to the Miami Herald. The couple were reported missing from Unit #1001.
Maricoy Obias-Bonnefoy, born in the Philippines, reportedly called her niece Irene Obias-Sanchez on the evening of the building collapse to discuss a family get-together planned for that coming Sunday.
The bodies of Chilean national Claudio Bonnefo, 85, and his wife Maria 'Maricoy' Obias-Bonnefoy, 69, were identified by authorities
It would have been one their first family gatherings since the pandemic as the Bonnefoys were strict about following lockdown restrictions.
'I could have just texted her back like I often did, but last night it felt different. I knew she wanted to talk about a get-together we were planning on Sunday with my sisters. She was so excited to finally be able to socialize with family after everyone was vaccinated,' Obias-Sanchez said.
Obias-Bonnefoy had immigrated to the US in the 1970s and worked at the International Monetary Fund in Washington D.C. before moving to retiring and moving to Surfside about 10 years ago, the Miami Herald reported.
Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21, of Houston was about to start his senior year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.
Miami-Dade Police identified him as one of the victims of the June 24 condo collapse in Surfside.
Giannitsopoulos was in Surfside to visit his godfather and his father's best friend, Manuel 'Manny' LaFont.
Andreas Giannitsopoulos, 21, of Houston was about to start his senior year at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. Miami-Dade Police identified him as one of the victims of the June 24 condo collapse in Surfside
The 54-year-old, a coach and business consultant, was also identified as one of the victims.
'My brother was honestly like my other half,' 19-year-old Athanasia Giannitsopoulos told The Tennessean.
'He was my best friend as well as my older brother, so he always protected me and he was always there for me no matter what.
'He was the most selfless person I have ever met in my life.'
TZVI AINSWORTH AND INGRID AINSWORTH
Tzvi Ainsworth, 68, and his wife, Ingrid Ainsworth, 66, were confirmed to have been killed in the condo collapse on Monday.
The couple, who moved to Miami from Melbourne, Australia, had an apartment on the 11th floor.
The Ainsworths, who were well known among Melbourne's small Jewish community, split their time between Florida and Australia.
The Ainsworths lived in Australia for nearly two decades before returning to South Florida to be near their children.
The couple had seven children and many live in South Florida, including a daughter who lives just blocks away.
Tzvi (pictured far left) and Ingrid (pictured far right) Ainsworth, members of the Jewish community from Melbourne, lived in an apartment on the 11th floor of the building. Their remains were identified on Monday, July 5
'Every person she encountered, ever in her life, became her friend. Everyone was treated as equals,' Chana Wasserman wrote in a Mother’s Day blog post to her mother Itty last year.
'The guy at the laundromat, the guy working at the fruit market...
Ingrid struggled with chronic pain issues, but didn’t let that darken her mood.
She tried to focus on the positive, a sunny day, a long car ride that would seem tedious to many she reframed as a chance to talk and catch up, her daughter wrote.
NANCY LEVIN AND JAY KLEIMAN
Nancy Levin, 76, and her son Jay Kleiman, 52, were among the three victims of the Surfside condo collapsed identified on July 6.
Levin fled the Cuban Revolution with her first husband in 1959, and first settled in Puerto Rico.
Then in the 1980s she moved as a single mother with her two boys to Surfside.
Nancy Levin, 76, along with her son Jay Kleiman, 52, were among the three victims of the Surfside condo collapsed identified on Tuesday
There, they lived in the then-new condo building popular with Hispanic Jews who had come mostly from Cuba.
In Surfside, she became a beloved member of the Shul Jewish community, and was known there as a doting 'abuela,' according to Chabad.org.
She was one of the seven volunteers who served on the condo association board, tasked with with organizing repairs for the building, and she was the only one that perished in the collapse.
Her son, Jay Kleiman moved back to Puerto Rico to work with his father in the garment industry.
He was used to hard times; the business suffered with the financial crisis in the Caribbean territory and Hurricane Maria in 2017. But they pulled through.
He had been visiting his mother in recent weeks for the funeral of an old high school friend who died of the coronavirus.
Francis Fernandez Plasencia was a 67-year-old a mother of three.
Plasencia, originally from Cuba, was the mother of three children, Erika, Pablo and Christina, and was spending the night visiting friends Maggie Vazquez-Bello and Rosa Saez, who are still missing.
Francis Fernandez Placensia, 67, was also one of the three victims identified on July 6
Placensia left behind three children Pablo (from left) Erika and Christina, whom she was close with
She was a parishioner of Coral Gables' Church of the Little Flower, and in her social media presence she appeared to remain close with her children, often celebrating holidays and eating dinner together.
A Gofundme has been set up to assist her family.
Simon Segal, a structural engineer who devoted his life to ensuring the integrity of buildings, was reported missing from Unit 1203 after the collapse of Champlain Tower South on June 24.
His body was recovered on Tuesday and his identity confirmed on Wednesday.
The body of engineer Simon Segal, who lived in the Champlain Towers unit 1203, has been identified
Segal, 80, was shown in a social media post by his niece, Melissa Goldstein Grosfeld, which reads: 'Our Uncle Simon Segal In the Champlain Towers unit 1203 is missing after the collapse- Prayers for all the families in this horrific tragedy.'
Miami-Dade Police announced that Segal’s remains were positively identified.
Segal worked as a product control reviewer for the State of Florida.
Miami-Dade Police announced that they had identified the remains of Graciela Cattarossi, 86, and her husband, Gino Cattarossi, 89.
Their bodies were recovered on Tuesday, July 6.
Graciela worked for the United Nations back in the 1960s, where she represented her home country of Uruguay.
Miami-Dade Police announced that they had identified the remains of Graciela Cattarossi, 86, and her husband, Gino Cattarossi, 89. Their bodies were recovered on July 6
The couple lived in Apartment 501 with their 48-year-old daughter, an independent lifestyle photographer also named Graciela Cattarossi, and their 7-year-old granddaughter, Estella. All four were missing after the condo collapsed, along with Cattarossi’s sister, Andrea, an architect in Pilar, Argentina, who was visiting
All four were missing after the condo collapsed, along with Cattarossi’s sister, Andrea (above), an architect in Pilar, Argentina, who was visiting
The couple lived in Apartment 501 with their 48-year-old daughter, an independent lifestyle photographer also named Graciela Cattarossi, and their 7-year-old granddaughter, Estella.
All four were missing after the condo collapsed, along with Cattarossi’s sister, Andrea, an architect in Pilar, Argentina, who was visiting.
Mariela Porras, a family friend, said Andrea was visiting from South America to help the family as her father was set to undergo surgery.
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