Pablo Rodriguez was hopeful that his grandmother and mother would survive when he received the call from Champlain Towers South in the early hours on June 24.The 40-year old attorney switched on the TV to see images of the rubble pile. He could also see portions of his mother's condominium building still standing. Perhaps her apartment had not fallen or maybe she and his grandmother had somehow managed to escape.While Vivian Lasaga drove him through Miami, he scrolled frantically on his phone for news. He found a video that showed the No. His mother's penthouse apartment on the 12th floor, complete with a patio lounger, pots of basil, and parsley on its balcony, was destroyed.A second after the crash, another pile of apartments to its east fell on it and collapsed into a flickering, burning pile.He said that it felt like my heart was being ripped out of me. The hope that they might make it was gone at that instant.Only 24 bodies were found in the rubble, ten days after the condo was demolished into a pile of slabs and tangled metal. Rescuers had to suspend their search for survivors because they wanted to make sure demolition work could begin as soon as Sunday. Rodriguez's mother Elena Blasser (64), and his grandmother Elena Chavez (88) are two of the 121 still missing.Rodriguez stated that I am just sitting in a limbo, which is a living nightmare. It never ends. It's just one long day that runs into the next and you wonder, "Where did the day go?"Rodriguez claims he hasn't slept in over a hundred first responders specialists urban search-and rescuers from Florida, Israel, and Mexico who have been sweeping the concrete and steel pile with sonar, cameras and canines. They used buckets and heavy cranes to lift concrete and jackhammer into large slabs. Then they dug a trench 20 feet wide and 40 feet deep in an effort to rescue survivors.Continue the storyOne woman lived in No. Six apartments below his mother's apartment, 611, a woman who lived in No. Two floors below, a 15-year-old boy lived in rubble. He was rescued alive with very few injuries. His mother also died. Since the tower fell, no survivors have been found. The smell of bodies in the rubble has intensified.Rodriguez does not blame anyone who is working on the pile for slowing down the rescue efforts. Rodriguez has heard from some families that they feel the workers are taking too long. Rodriguez understands that they are working 12-hour shifts in the heat and on slippery terrain laden with jagged steel bar.Search-and-rescue teams have hauled more than 3,000,000 pounds of concrete out of the rubble over the past week. They have had to stop frequently due to fires, tropical rainstorms, and structural instability of the partially-remaining tower.Crews stopped the search for 14 hours on Thursday after structural engineers discovered six to twelve inches of movement in a large, unsecured column that was hanging from the structure. This could have caused damage to the basement garage's support columns. The structure was stable enough to allow search-and rescue teams to return to work on a small portion of the pile by Thursday evening. However, local officials plan to demolish the tower as Tropical Storm Elsa moves towards South Florida.Charles W. Burkett of Surfside, who visited the site multiple times per day, stated that the rubble pile was shrinking as more people hauled it away, mostly by hand but also with buckets.He said that every day the missing families ask him: "Are you digging in this area?" Are you finding anything? Are you moving fast enough? Are we able to go faster? Can we continue working in the lightning?Burkett continues to tell families that he believes search team will find someone alive from the rubble. Rodriguez is now reverting to the past, even though his grandmother and mother's bodies are not found.He said that she was full of life and loved to travel. Her number one priority was family. 1 thing.Rodriguez stated that if a miracle occurs, he will be the happiest person on the planet.He doesn't expect a miracle. He hopes that they find something so his family can properly bury his grandmother and mother.::Rodriguez arrived in Surfside hours after the collapse. The once tranquil beach town just north of Miami was now a dismal mess of blocked roads and flashing police cruisers.He was caught up in the throngs of people who poured into the family reunion center. He struggled to comprehend what was happening.His grandmother planned to take John, a 6-year-old boy, out for lunch and purchase John a new bike. His entire family was to meet at his house Saturday to relax by the pool.What would he say to John?John saw pictures of the collapse on the news that morning and knew that Ama and Yeyi were inside the building.He kept asking if they were okay. FaceTime?Pablo and his mother talked on the phone almost every day. Johns great-grandmother and grandmother loved him. They would visit him every Saturday, and also pick him up to go to Disney World, Legoland, or the beach apartment.It was particularly difficult the Saturday following the fall of the tower. John was joined by close friends who brought their children along to play. They went out for Happy Meal.John kept asking, "Where are they?" John kept asking: Where are they? FaceTime is possibleRodriguez saw his son tear up as the gravity of the tragedy began to sink in.He asked, "What's the problem?"John smiled brightly and said nothing, wiping his eyes with his palms. I'm happy!Rodriguez and his wife took John instead of going to other families to meet President Biden to see a counselor on Thursday. They were concerned about John's mental health. Rodriguez believed it was more important that John speak to someone who could help express his feelings.John stared off into the distance as the family watched "Captain America" that evening.Rodriguez asked, "What's the problem?"John said: Ama, Yeyi and Champlain Tower. Poof!John burst into tears and Rodriguez was forced to run out of the room. His wife consoled him while he cried.He said that he doesn't know if he understands it fully. I'm not sure I understand it either. I'm 40 years old and have difficulty understanding.Rodriguez was not able to make it to the rescue site earlier in the week when relatives were invited. Rodriguez collapsed as he approached the building, two blocks away. He saw the pile behind it.He said that it looked like a film set for a disaster movie. It is only debris and three to four stories high.::Elena Blasser and Elena Chavez were both born in Cuba. However, the family fled to New York during Blasser's revolution as a child. They lived for a while in New York before moving to Puerto Rico in the late 1970s.Chavez was a Puerto Rican public school teacher. She loved to travel so much that she continued working as a travel agent until the age of 88. Blasser was a teacher in public schools at multiple Miami-Dade elementary and middle schools, before she became a counselor and vice-principal.She moved to Champlain more than a decade back.Blasser's two-bedroom apartment was a family treasure. It was a place they used to gather on weekends to take in the view of the ocean, swim by the pool and eat Blasser’s homemade eggplant Parmesan or kibbeh.Rodriguez stated that Rodriguez and other owners complained frequently about the poor maintenance of the building. This included cracks around the pool deck and water in the garage.She told him that she wasn't sleeping well the night before the tower fell.Rodriguez didn't take it seriously at the time. But now, it bites at him along all the complaints of condo owners about how the condo was managed.He asked how this could have happened. It was negligence. It was negligence. This building collects monthly maintenance fees. How could the city say that the building is OK after reviewing the report?While the cause of the collapse is still unknown, an engineer pointed out in a 2018 report that there was a significant error. The pool deck's lack of drainage had caused severe structural damage to the concrete slab below it. Surfsides chief building inspector assured residents that the building was in good condition after receiving a copy.Multiple factors may have contributed to the tragedy according to engineers and architects, including a weak foundation or flaws with the building's design or construction.The building had not received its 40-year recertification. It was currently having roof work completed and is about to be subject to extensive repairs for rusted metal and concrete.Thursday saw the discovery of Magaly Delgado's body. This 80-year-old Cuban lady lived three floors below his mother. Later that night, a Miami Firefighter carried his 7-year-old daughter out of the rubble.Rodriguez is ready for a call. Rodriguez is not sure he'll be available for the call.Rodriguez closes his eyes and lies down. The video replays in his head and the tower crashes down.Although he is trying to imagine happier times, even those can be bittersweet.Open Facebook and notifications appear about family summer beach vacations. Photo after photo shows his grandmother, mother and son smiling in front of the clear Caribbean waters on the Turks and Caicos and Cayman Islands.He said that those were our most joyful moments. It's hard to know that I won't be able to share any more moments with them.This story first appeared in Los Angeles Times.
