SURFSIDE, Fla. — Families hoped for miracles Friday, as the arduous rescue operation at the collapsed Surfside condo tower continued into its second day.
Using heavy machinery, search dogs and microphones, exhausted rescue workers labored under heavy rain to find survivors in the rubble of the Champlain Towers South condo. But the death toll rose to four and is expected to continue climbing, with the number of missing reaching 159.
At a family reunification center set up at a hotel near the tower, the crowd was noticeably smaller than it was Thursday.
“I believe in God’s faith and miracles and the power of prayer,” said Magaly Ramsey, whose mother Magaly Delgado is missing, outside the reunification center. “And I have so many family and friends praying. I hope for the best, but at the same time, if she has left this earth, she’s in peace and in God’s arms, and that’s a good outcome in that way and she didn’t feel anything.”
The death toll remained at four and the number of people accounted for climbed from 120 to 127, Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Cava said at Friday afternoon news conference. The number unnaccounted for remained at 159.
The first victim to be identified is Stacie Fang, 54, according to WSVN-TV, which cited the Miami-Dade County medical examiner. She died at Aventura Hospital from blunt force injuries.
President Joe Biden said he spoke with Gov. Ron DeSantis and that the federal government is providing all help possible.
“We’re going to stay with them with the disaster declaration we made, provide for everything from housing to God forbid, whether there’s a need for moratoria for the bodies to be placed,” he said at event in Washington. “It’s a tough, tough time. There’s so many people waiting.”
Rescuers removed bodies from the rubble overnight, as the search for survivors went into its second day, hampered by heavy rain and a fire. The death toll is expected to rise.
Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava said at a Friday morning news conference that rescue crews were still in action, using heavy equipment to move the wreckage. They’re working at “extraordinary risk” of injury from debris in the hope of finding survivors, she said.
“We will continue search and rescue because we still have hope there are people alive,” she said.
The cause of the building’s collapse remained a mystery, although theories included the instability of the slowly sinking land on the site.
DeSantis, speaking in Pensacola on Friday morning, addressed the unusual nature of the catastrophe.
“We’ll have to figure out why did this happen,” he said. “That answer isn’t necessarily apparent right now, but it will be identified. Anyone who was affected by this directly wants that answer but also we need to know is this a bigger issue or is this something unique to the building.”
He said the focus now is on supporting the rescue crews searching for survivors.
“They are trying to save lives,” he said. “That clearly is the most important thing.”
Rescue workers are listening for sounds from the rubble that could indicate survivors, said Raide Jadallah, assistant Miami-Dade County fire chief.
“We are listening for sounds,” he said. “It’s not specifically human sounds. It could be tapping, it could be steel twisting, it could be debris raining down. So, we’re concentrating in those areas.”
“We have hope,” he said. “And every time that we hear a sound, we concentrate in that area. So we send additional teams utilizing the devices, utilizing K-9, utilizing personnel. So as we continue to hear those sounds, we concentrate in those areas.”
Anguished family members entered a second day of waiting, as hope diminished of finding many survivors.
“I’m really, really hoping they’re just under the debris, and they’re maybe unconscious or maybe they just need medical attention, obviously,” Jenny Urgelles told WSVN, as she awaited word of her parents, Mercy and Ray Urgelles. “I’m holding onto hope. I really am. I’m hoping that even if it takes them a couple hours, a couple days, they do find them, and I’m very just desperate to know what’s happening.”
Rabbi Raphael Tennenhaus, director of the Chabad of South Broward in Hallandale Beach, was praying his wife’s sister and her husband would still be found alive. Very early Friday morning it was still “very difficult to talk. We are praying that God Almighty delivers big miracles.”
One woman pulled her teenage daughter from the wreckage on Thursday, despite having broken her pelvis, according to WFOR-TV. Angela Gonzalez fell from the ninth floor to the fifth floor along with her 16-year-old daughter Devon, but was able to rescue her child. They were taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
Shortly before 1 a.m. Friday, the White House said Biden declared a state of emergency in Florida and ordered federal assistance to help deal with the condominium collapse.
Several groups have set up websites to raise funds for the victims. Among them are theshul.org/8777 and supportsurfside.org, sites that were shared by Cava and DeSantis at their Friday news conferences.
“We have had people working down in Surfside, search and rescue, nonstop all through the night. It’s a very, very difficult situation,” DeSantis said. “Obviously, you have people who have been displaced who fortunately got out of there in time. There’s support services for them. Then you have a lot of family members who don’t know where their loved ones are. It has been a really, really difficult time for the state of Florida, but particularly for the Surfside community.”
Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose district includes Surfside, said the White House would grant all of the requests for resources the community needs for families and the local governments.
Clean-up costs, housing assistance and funeral services are all expenses the federal government is ready to pay, the White House and Wasserman Schultz said. Since many residents came from other countries, Wasserman Schultz said officials are working with constituents to help get visas processed quickly for family members overseas.
“I will tell you after spending the bulk of the day (Thursday) here that this is a tragedy without precedence in the United States of America,” Wasserman Schultz said.
The Miami Herald reported Thursday that officials confirmed 35 survivors were pulled from the rubble. Ten people were treated at the scene and at least two were hospitalized.
The missing include at least 34 Jewish people, in a part of the Miami coast that’s within walking distance of five synagogues. It includes nine Argentines, according to the Argentine Consulate in Miami. It includes six citizens of Paraguay, including siblings of that country’s first lady, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay.
Israeli media said the country’s consul general in Miami, Maor Elbaz, believes that 20 citizens of that country are missing.
Argentines Dr. Andres Galfrascoli, his husband, Fabian Nuñez, and their adopted 6-year-old daughter, Sofia, had spent Wednesday night there at an apartment belonging to a friend, Nicolas Fernandez, according to The Associated Press.
Galfrascoli, a Buenos Aires plastic surgeon, and Nuñez, a theater producer and accountant, had come to Florida to get away from COVID-19 in Argentina and its strict lockdowns.
“Of all days, they chose the worst to stay there,” said their friend, Nicolas Fernandez . “I hope it’s not the case, but if they die like this, that would be so unfair.”
Also missing was Arnie Notkin, a retired Miami-area elementary school physical education teacher, and his wife, Myriam, according to AP. They lived on the third floor.
“Everyone’s been posting, ‘Oh my God, he was my coach,’” said Fortuna Smukler, a friend who turned to Facebook in hopes of finding someone who would report them safe.
“They were also such happy, joyful people. He always had a story to tell, and she always spoke so kindly of my mother,” Smukler said. “Originally there were rumors that he had been found, but it was a case of mistaken identity. It would be a miracle if they’re found alive.”
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(Staff writers Susannah Bryan, Lisa J. Huriash and Yvonne Valdez, and photographer Susan Stocker contributed to this report.)
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