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SURFSIDE, FLA. (WSVN) - A teenager who lives in Champlain Towers East said she witnessed the South condo collapse and has been left traumatized by the event.
Nina Le Troadec, 15, said she cannot get the image of the condo collapsing out of her head.
“We were in such shock. We didn’t know what happened,” she said.
The 15-year-old said she was in her bedroom at the time and rushed to the window. Her first concern was the safety of her loved ones.
“You just see the second part of the building collapse, seeing the first middle part already collapsed and then just a cloud of dust, and we couldn’t see anything,” Le Troadec said. “I ran to my mom, who’s on the other side of the balcony, and made sure she’s OK. We didn’t know what happened. We didn’t know if that was going to happen to our building. We were traumatized.”
Le Troadec then woke up her sister and evacuated the building.
She added one of her friends lived in the now partially-collapsed building. Her friend remains hospitalized, but her friend’s relative is among those unaccounted for following the partial collapse.
“It was madness there,” she said. “There was people screaming, crying, all types of emotions. People from the remaining balconies that were still standing just stuck there, unable to go through the stairs because it’s blocked or there’s no stairs, and it was just really scary.”
The 15-year-old said she has had trouble sleeping since the June 24 partial collapse.
“Every night, I go to sleep thinking, ‘Is my building going to collapse?’ Like, I don’t think anyone should have to go to sleep thinking that,” Le Troadec said.
In the nights following the partial collapse, Le Troadec said she stayed away from her home in the East condo. She has since returned home.
She added her building was built 20 years after the South condo, so she feels her building is safe.
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