Posted on 06/29/2021 11:24:14 AM PDT by rxsid
Survivor describes escape from Florida condo collapse: ‘I kept going, screaming ... I want to live’
...
Monteagudo, 64, was asleep Thursday morning when a strange feeling woke her. “It’s like something supernatural woke me up. I felt something strange, and I thought, 'Oh, I forgot to close the sliding door to the balcony, and the wind is making the noise,’ ” she said. “I tried to close the sliding door, and it felt like the building was moving. The door wouldn’t close.”
Then Monteagudo heard a crack. There was a line in the wall coming down from the ceiling — about two fingers wide. “Then it started getting wider and wider as I watched,” she said. “Something said, you have to run. You have to run immediately.”
“I ran to my bedroom, and took off my robe and changed into any dress and any sandals. I ran to the dining room table, I got my purse and my credit cards. I took the key, I blew out the candle that I light every night for Guadalupe of Mexico,” she said. “I blew out the candle, just in case.”
Monteagudo ran to the stairs, descending quickly. Between the sixth and fourth floors, there was a noise — and she realized the building was falling. ... “I thought if it’s coming down, ... like a domino effect,” she said.
...
When Monteagudo finally escaped from a door, there was water up to her ankles, and cables floating in it. She ran into a security guard. “He told me, ‘Mama, mama, let’s go, this is an earthquake,’ ” Monteagudo said. “I said, ‘No, it’s not an earthquake, it’s the building falling down.’
...
“I lost everything,
, woman who lived across the hall, disappeared. She hasn’t been found,”
(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...
I would have headed to the exit in my birthday suit! I was waiting for her to say she put make up on!
This post is a gem in that regard
For the life of me, I can’t see your point. Are you calling this woman a liar? What part of her story do you think she’s lying about, and why? She lost everything and barely escaped with her life. What’s your beef?
Some people...
I have. Not on purpose. But I’ve several times have had an aromatherapy candle burning and woke up the next morning realizing I fell asleep before blowing it out. Most of the time the candle burns itself out. FWIW a lit candle in a glass jar poses very little fire risk.
The bigger problem with your post is not the risk of fire but calling her a “Stupid Mexican bitch"
“Then it started getting wider and wider as I watched,”
Cool...stood and watched her apartment come apart at the seems! How wide did it get before she decided it was time to change clothes, blow out the candle, sweep the floor, check the thermostat, make her bed etc then split?
“I would have headed to the exit in my birthday suit!”
I’m with you. Maybe slip on some shoes, sandals or sneaks to get over the debris.
It’s often strange what people will do when faced with dire danger. A neighbor told me this morning that her 21 year old great niece was camping with a girlfriend near Boise. A huge wind storm came up, so the girls took shelter in her car. Other people headed toward the nearby lake to get away from the trees. Wouldn’t you know it, a tree fell on their car and killed the girl. Her girlfriend got a broken neck. Sometimes you have to make a quick decision and you aren’t sure which is the best — head to the lake with few trees or seek shelter in your car.
The collapse itself was like what we saw on 9/11 with the building suddenly and catastrophically failing. And like 9/11 the events leading up to the final collapse were not sudden.
Lots of mistakes and acts of criminal negligence were required before both collapses.
Sometimes it takes longer to figure out what’s going on. I would have thought of an earthquake first. Not right in Florida but in the vicinity.
When I was a kid the fire marshal would come around at Christmas time telling us not to use lighted candles on the Christmas tree. That’s why they made electric ones.
If this woman felt the need to do this she could have used an electric candle like the Votive candles in a Catholic church.
Do YOU leave burning candles lit in your home while you’re sleeping? Would you leave a burner on your stove going when you’re sleeping?
For the record, I believe her story. Have no reason to believe otherwise.
The entire point here is that this wasn't a 10 second event start to finish. I even alluded to such in the title of the post.
Some people...
It was a concrete building that was unlikely to burn.
Also, you’re quite ignorant of what a Guadalupe candle is because they’re extremely safe to use.
With a cat in the house, I would not leave burning even a candle in a glass jar. That’s just the kind of thing a cat would mess with during the night. Otherwise, a candle in a glass jar is safe enough, IMHO.
“She lit a candle every night for Guadalupe of Mexico and got out alive.”
Yes, that might be a good habit to copy.
In other words, for those out there still clinging to the terrorist blew up the building theory...here is yet more proof that that isn't the case.
Calling someone “stupid Mexican bitch” is indefensible.
FWIW, her candle did not bring the building down.
And you called her a "Stupid Mexican". But for all we know she might have been Cuban or of many other latin nationalities originally. She might have also been born a US citizen of US citizen parents going back many generations.
My mother was of English and German descent and a devote Catholic all her life. She burned a lot of candles in our house and never set out house on fire.
Nobody ever said it was a 10-second event start to finish! Where are you getting that? One of the earliest stories was a woman who called her grandson to report that the building was making groaning noises...and that was a day or so prior to the collapse.
Dr. Joseph Dolan: You know, it’s a shame about Ed.
Fletch: Oh, it was. Yeah, it was really a shame. To go so suddenly like that.
Dr. Joseph Dolan: Ahh, he was dying for years.
Fletch: Sure, but... the end was really... very sudden.
Dr. Joseph Dolan: He was in intensive care for eight weeks!
Fletch: Yeah, but I mean the very end, when he actually died. That was extremely sudden.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.