South Florida marks 5 years since Surfside's Champlain Towers collapse as families still seek answers
Residents, family members and community leaders gathered early Wednesday morning in Surfside to mark five years since the collapse of Champlain Towers South, a tragedy that killed 98 people and forever changed the South Florida community.
The annual Lighting of the Torch ceremony took place at 1:15 a.m., with the torch being lit at 1:22 a.m., the exact time the 12-story beachfront condominium partially collapsed on June 24, 2021. The solemn observance honored the victims, survivors and first responders involved in the unprecedented search and recovery effort.
Later this Wednesday morning, the Town of Surfside is scheduled to host its fifth annual remembrance ceremony at 10 a.m. at 88th Street and Collins Avenue.
One of the deadliest building failures in U.S. history
The collapse remains one of the deadliest building failures in U.S. history. In the weeks following the disaster, rescue crews worked around the clock at the site before ultimately recovering the remains of all 98 victims. The tragedy prompted changes to building inspection and condominium safety laws in Florida and sparked years of investigations into what caused the structure to fail.
Just days before the fifth anniversary, federal investigators released new findings from their ongoing probe into the collapse.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology said long-term corrosion and the failure of multiple slab-to-column connections likely contributed to a progressive collapse after weeks of structural deterioration. Investigators said their conclusions are based on two dozen computer simulations conducted over five years, though a final report has not yet been released.
The findings have drawn criticism from some victims' relatives, who say they still lack definitive answers about why the building fell.
As the community marks five years since the collapse, many families say the pain remains fresh, and questions surrounding the disaster continue to linger.