Woman remembers friend living on top floor of collapsed Surfside condo

One year after the deadly condominium collapse in Surfside, WINK News returned to the site of Champlain Towers South for the vigil held by the families and friends of the victims. One woman remembered her friend who lived on the top floor of the fallen Surfside condo and had been thinking of moving out.

Dawn Falco Barletta flew from New York to be at the vigil in order to remember her longtime friend Linda March. Like many other people who lost loved ones in the collapse, she could hardly believe it has been a whole year; some said it only felt like a few months ago.

“I can’t believe it’s been a year, it’s gone so fast,” Barletta said. “We miss her a lot and just her smile and being with her, and it’s nice to still be able to look at photos of her and still smile and listen to voice messages from her. We did a lot of sharing today.”

March lived on the very top floor of Champlain Towers South, where people may recall seeing an image of bunk beds almost tumbling off the crumbled floor, reminding onlookers that the Surfside ruins used to be people’s homes. Although Linda March is gone, Barletta says she will always remember her living and enjoying life.

“Fun, beautiful, funny, smart, generous, kind… just the kind of person everyone wanted to be with when they were in a room,” Barletta said. “For us, I think that she was always such a bright light, and she’ll still be a bright light for all of us.”

Another friend of Linda March tells WINK News that March was thinking of moving to a different apartment because she thought the Champlain Towers complex was so bad.

While the exact cause of the collapse is still unknown, preliminary investigations show the collapse happened when the ground floor parking garage and pool deck caved in. Federal investigators continue to dissect what remains of the structure.

Miami-Dade Circuit Judge Michael Hanzman has approved a $1.2 billion settlement for collapse victims. Court cases like this typically take well over a decade to reach some sort of conclusion, but Hanzman promised the Surfside victims that he would have it settled within one year.