SURFSIDE, FLA. (WSVN) – South Florida is marking the fifth anniversary of the catastrophic condominium collapse in Surfside by honoring the victims\u2019 memories.<\/p>\n
7News cameras captured loved ones, survivors and local leaders at a solemn remembrance held at 98 Points of Light Way, Wednesday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are are moments that divide life into before and after,\u201d said a rabbi as he addressed attendees.<\/p>\n
June 24, 2021 became a line of demarcation for the first responders who worked tirelessly to find people in the rubble of Champlain Towers South, or the families of the 98 people who were painfully taken too soon, and for the entire community who continue to carry on their legacy.<\/p>\n
Larissa Gromova\u2019s 24-year-old daughter Anastasia was killed that night, along with her friend Michelle Pazos.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey were so young,\u201d said Gromova as she broke down in tears.<\/p>\n
Every year, Gromova comes back for the anniversary ceremony to reflect and honor her daughter\u2019s memory.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know, for me it\u2019s not five years, it\u2019s just a whole piece of time, but some part of us is still there. It\u2019s not five years for us,\u201d said Gromova.<\/p>\n
The morning\u2019s ceremony, which got underway at around 10 a.m., was preceded by an overnight lighting of the torch, also at 98 Points of Light Way, to mark the moment when the condominium crumbled where it had stood for 40 years, at 1:15 a.m. on June 24, 2021.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday\u2019s lighting of the torch, let it be a symbol of remembrance, of resiliency and hope,\u201d said Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Chief Ray Jadallah.<\/p>\n
The collapse in Surfside has left a deep wound that\u2019s hard to put into words. Slabs of concrete from the building were preserved and placed across the street as a reminder.<\/p>\n
Among the survivors who attended the overnight remembrance was Devin Gonzalez, who fell out of Apartment 904. Her father, Edgar Gonzalez, did not make it out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe best thing, honestly, that we can do is just to look at the mistakes from the past and make sure that we don\u2019t make that again,\u201d said Devin.<\/p>\n