Residents, survivors and grieving families gathered before dawn Wednesday to mark five years since the collapse of Champlain Towers South, the beachfront condominium that fell in the early morning hours of June 24, 2021, killing 98 people.
The annual Lighting of the Torch ceremony began at 1:15 a.m., with the flame lit at 1:22 a.m., the precise moment the 12-story tower came down. The observance honored the victims, the survivors and the first responders who searched the rubble for weeks until every victim was recovered. The parents of Anastasia Gromava, 24, drove down from Tampa as they have every year. “I feel like it was yesterday,” her mother said.
The anniversary arrived just days after federal investigators released long-awaited technical findings on what caused the disaster. The National Institute of Standards and Technology concluded that the collapse began in early June 2021, weeks before the building fell, when two connections between garage columns and the pool deck failed in what engineers call a punching-shear failure.
Investigators said the building had narrow margins against failure from the start. Co-lead investigator Glenn Bell pointed to severe deviations in the original 1981 design from the codes of the day, along with construction that strayed from the approved drawings. Some areas of the pool deck and parking slab provided less than half the required strength. Cracks spread over three weeks, shifting loads onto elements that could not bear them, until the structure gave way around 1 a.m.
For many relatives, the report brought little peace. Some said they still lack a clear answer to the question they have carried for five years: why their loved ones died. One mother who lost her husband and 5-year-old son called it disturbing that the building had been cracking three weeks before it fell. Another family member said the government spent nearly $40 million and came back with little.
The tragedy reshaped Florida law, prompting tougher inspection rules and structural integrity reserve studies that require condominium boards to set aside funds for major repairs. NIST will now prepare a final report with recommendations for building codes nationwide.
The collapse site is slated for redevelopment, a plan that has drawn controversy from families who hoped for a memorial. A smaller memorial near 88th Street is planned.
