South Florida paused this week to mark five years since one of the deadliest building failures in American history. A torch was lit just after 1 a.m. on Wednesday in remembrance of the 98 people killed when the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside collapsed on June 24, 2021.
The commemoration drew survivors, victims’ relatives, first responders, and local officials to the site where the 12 story condominium once stood. The partial collapse claimed 98 lives in what remains one of the deadliest building failures in United States history, a tragedy that residents now refer to simply as Surfside.
The memory of that night still weighs on those who responded. Police body camera video captured officers arriving in the darkness to find two thirds of the complex reduced to rubble, with people stranded in the remaining units screaming for help from their balconies. Search and rescue crews worked for weeks at the site, first racing to find survivors and then shifting to the painful work of recovery.
Miami Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who led the government response, described the scene as surreal and recalled the gut punch of surveying the destruction. She noted that one of the hardest moments was the transition from rescue to recovery, once it became clear that no one else would be found alive.
Five years on, the consequences continue to ripple outward. The disaster prompted sweeping reviews of condominium safety, inspection requirements, and reserve funding rules for aging buildings across Florida, changes that have reshaped how older coastal structures are maintained and financed.
For families, the focus remains on memory. Relatives of those lost, including Martin Langesfeld, whose sister Nicky died in the collapse, have pushed for a permanent memorial on the Surfside property. They want a place where the names of the 98 can be honored and where the community can gather to remember.
The anniversary served as both a moment of mourning and a reminder that, even years later, the toll of that morning has not faded.
