Wife Frantically Calls Husband As Miami Condo Starts To Collapse Saying The Pool Was Sinking

Protection and safety. These are two of the main reasons why many choose to stay in condominium units. But that’s exactly not what residents experienced when in 2021, the Champlain Towers South building collapsed. The tragic incident ended up taking 98 lives and many more injured.

For days, rescuers worked day and night in an attempt to locate survivors among the wreckage. However, when all surviving victims were rescued and the goal was shifted to ‘recovery,’ hope began to dwindle.

Many horrifying stories surfaced after the incident. People are stepping forward to share their tragic experiences following the fall of the structure.

One of the most haunting stories shared was that of the call from Cassie Stratton, a 40-year-old model to her husband at around 1:30. She frantically called her husband just moments before the building collapsed and became a pile of rubble. During their last phone call, she was telling him that she could see the pool collapsing down below.

Then Cassie’s phone went dead. Sadly, Cassie was among the 98 victims of the collapse. Cassie’s body was identified by husband Mike Stratton in mid July 2021.

The law firm that Mike works at released a statement on behalf of the family, stating:
“Her husband, Mike, and family again thank everyone who prayed for Cassie over the past two weeks and reiterated their eternal gratitude to the rescue workers whose courage and determination was unmatched.”

As with so many of the stories that have come out of the tragedy, hearing about the phone conversation between Cassie and her husband was simply painful to hear.

What she told him during the phone call though was critical to the investigation into how the building crashed down to the ground on its own. Why the building collapsed and what could have been done to prevent it are among the numerous issues that have been raised in the aftermath.

According to a 2018 inspection, the structure was in need of some substantial repairs, which did not appear to have been completed based on the reports. Cassie’s final words to her husband may provide evidence to support claims that the collapse originated at ground level rather than what was originally believed to be at the top of the building’s structure.

A trail of documents discovered by federal investigators as they pieced together evidence states that the 12-story, 136-unit oceanfront condo complex had considerable concrete structural deterioration to its pool deck area and was past due for repairs as early as 1996. According to experts and engineers, the building’s deterioration may have been caused by structural damage disregarded for decades, repairs delayed and environmental hazards.

North and South Champlain Condominium Towers were constructed in 1981 in Surfside, Florida, a suburb located about north of Miami. Miami’s leaders wanted to transition into an up-scale market in the 1970s and 1980s. But at the time, a fourth of South Beach Miami was made up of retirees who opposed rebuilding the city for fear of displacement. After the moratorium was removed, the Champlain Towers were the first condominiums to be built.

More than 500 buildings nearing the threshold for recertification after 40 years were assessed by Miami-Dade County following the collapse for any visible structural issues. Any information, such as the last phone calls made by the victims, could be useful in the ongoing investigation.