SURFSIDE, Fla. – Loved ones gathered for a touching tribute overnight returning to the site of the Surfside condo collapse at the exact hour their lives were forever changed.
They streamed in quietly, emotionally, and lovingly. They clutched flowers and photos.
They gathered at the site where the lives of their loved ones were cut short one year ago on June 24, 2021. They arrived at midnight for a 1 a.m. private memorial marking the hour that the condominium they called home that night fell suddenly and swiftly.
At the collapse site, they lit torches that flickered in the night sky. It was one for each of the 98 whose names are listed on a banner outside.
Across from the collapse site is Veterans Park. It’s where Surfside town workers lit a torch in honor of the victims. It will stay up until July 20, the anniversary of the day that the last victim was pulled from the rubble.
“It’s very sad what happened to them,” said Perla Irala who came to remember 23-year-old Leidy Villalba Luna who was working as a nanny for the relatives of Paraguay’s president. Irala said she’s become close with Leidy’s mother who could not make it to the memorial.
“I was speaking to her. She’s in Paraguay. She is very, very sad because she had only one daughter and she was her whole world,” she said.
Eric and Aaron Alter came for 45-year-old Edgar Gonzalez. “To me, he was an awesome person.”
Gonazalez’s wife, Angela, and daughter, Devin, were hurt but survived the collapse. He did not.
Many of the loved ones want to see some kind of permanent memorial set up for the victims but exactly where and when that will be has yet to be determined.