Surfside

A crowd gathered at Veterans Park in Surfside on Wednesday to mark a grim and tragic milestone: five years since the sudden and catastrophic collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium building.

WLRN's Christine DiMattei, Daniel Rivero and Tom Hudson go over their memories of the event and its consequences, discussing the disaster and its lasting impact.

Federal investigators have found that the deadly collapse of a Florida beachfront condominium actually started weeks before it left a massive pile of rubble. The 2021 collapse in the middle of the night left 98 people dead. The National Institute of Standards and Technology said in a report released Monday that two connections between garage columns and the pool deck started to fail in early June.

Tuesday night's municipal elections brought a mix of continuity and change to South Florida, with a close mayoral race in Miami Beach and an upset in a Homestead council race. In the Florida Keys, two incumbents got re-elected to the city council in Marathon.

A new report confirms preliminary findings that the partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South Building in 2021 likely originated from the pool deck rather than the tower itself, according to the federal agency in charge of the investigation.

Over 100 people gathered for the 4th annual Surfside remembrance ceremony in honor of the 98 lives that were lost when the condominium, Champlain Towers South, suddenly collapsed. Survivors and loved ones of those lost spoke about their grief and frustrations surrounding the tragedy.

The Town of Surfside is holding a series of memorial events on Tuesday to mark the four years since the 12-story Champlain Towers South condominium building collapsed, killing 98 people. The day is scheduled to begin with a “Lighting of the Torch Ceremony” at 1:15 a.m. at Veterans Park in partnership with Miami-Dade Fire Rescue.

Since the collapse, the state has enacted reforms to make condo buildings safer. But Rep. Vicki Lopez said people looking to buy a condo should probably hold off for a while.

Voters in Hialeah, Homestead, Miami and Miami Beach went to the polls Tuesday with a slate of municipal candidates to choose from. In Surfside, voters chose among five charter amendments.

The majority of Surfside commissioners voted not to censure Mayor Shlomo Danzinger for making racial insults and sexist remarks directed at Commissioner Nelly Velasquez.

Two years ago, 98 people died with the Champlain Towers South condo building partially collapsed. Federal investigators have been looking into the flaws in the building's pool deck.

Federal officials say the swimming pool deck of the Champlain Towers South condo that collapsed two years ago failed to comply with original building codes and standards.