Since the collapse, he said he’s been visiting the building site twice a day. But that evening she convinced him to stay - a decision that probably saved his life. Erick De Moura, a resident of 1004, wasn't planning to sleep at his girlfriend Fernanda Figueiredo's house Wednesday. She probably saved his life, he told The Post. He was planning to go home - his clothes were wet from jumping in a canal to retrieve a soccer ball - but his girlfriend insisted that he stay. Around 6:15 p.m., he went to his girlfriend’s house, home-cooked meal in tow, to watch a game and play soccer. On a normal work night, he would have been there asleep.Īnd that Wednesday had been pretty normal: He worked from home running his sales business while cooking a simmering pot of feijoada. Their bodies were recovered Sunday.Įrick De Moura, a native of Brazil, lived in Unit 1004. (Zack Wittman for The Washington Post)ĭirectly above Hedaya in Unit 704 were two transplants from Venezuela, Leon Oliwkowicz, 80, and his wife, Cristina Beatriz de Oliwkowicz, 74. But the living rooms remained, offering people there a chance to survive. The master bedrooms - and the people sleeping in them - were pulled down into the rubble. The 04 apartments of the Champlain Towers South were split in half. It was one of those conversations - amazing until you’re too tired to continue,” Golan remembered. Three hours before the collapse, Hedaya wrapped up a phone call with Golan that lasted more than an hour. Sometimes when she gazed out at the rolling waves of the Atlantic, she was accompanied by a fluffy cat with blue eyes named Izzy who visited Hedaya, a cat lover, when her friend Debra Golan went on vacation. (Debra Golan) RIGHT: The balcony of Estelle Hedaya's 604 apartment, with her Friday tradition - a glass of tequila with lime. LEFT: Estelle Hedaya, a resident of Unit 604, with her friend Debra Golan's cat. (Debra Golan) The balcony of Estelle Hedaya's 604 apartment, with her Friday tradition - a glass of tequila with lime. Hedaya, the operations director for Continental Buying Group and Preferred Jewelers International, started the virtual gathering during the pandemic, scheduling it just before Shabbat, which she faithfully observed.Įstelle Hedaya, a resident of Unit 604, with her friend Debra Golan's cat. Hedaya had a Friday ritual: She logged on to her computer, poured herself a drink with tequila and lime, and got ready for the Hedaya Happy Hour. The Gonzalez family lived three floors up from Estelle Hedaya, 54, in Unit 604. The mother and daughter survived, while the father was still missing June 25. The Gonzalez family lived in Unit 904, which was ripped in half in the collapse. Her niece and sister-in-law had come out of surgery, she told The Post. Hours after the collapse, his sister, Adriana Chi, was at the family reunification center, distraught. Mother and daughter were later taken to the area’s largest trauma center.īut Edgar Gonzalez, husband and father, vanished into the wreckage. Though the impact broke Angela’s pelvis, she pulled her daughter from the rubble and escaped. When the condos began to crumple, Angela Gonzalez and her 16-year-old daughter, Devon, went into a free fall and landed on the fifth floor. The report recommended that concrete slabs, which were “showing distress” by the entrance and pool deck, “be removed and replaced in their entirety.” It said the concrete deterioration should "be repaired in a timely fashion.The family in Unit 904 experienced this divide. Investigators have not determined what caused 55 of the 136 units in the northeast corridor of the 12-floor building to crumble.īut a trove of emails and documents released by Surfside revealed that residents and contractors had been raising concerns about the integrity of the building for years - specifically focusing on structural problems and leaks in the garage and pool area.Ī commercial pool contractor who was inspecting the pool last week told the Miami Herald that there “was standing water all over the parking garage,” and the biggest puddle of water was by parking spot 78, located under the pool deck, where a contractor in 2018 had reported there was "major structural damage." Images captured by a contractor show the conditions inside the pool control room of Champlain Towers South days before collapse. Half of the building flattened at about 1:30 a.m.
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