By Elisha Fieldstadt - NBC News
The identification of the 98th victim of the collapse of the Champlain Towers South building in Surfside, Florida, ended the meticulous search process for those missing in the June 24 collapse on Monday.
The remains of Estelle Hedaya, 54, were finally identified, her brother, Ikey Hedaya, told The Associated Press news agency.
["Our hearts break": Miami-Dade mayor cries as she remembers the victims of the Surfside landslide]
Hedaya was the only victim left unconfirmed when firefighters concluded their search on Friday, nearly a month after the collapse, and after clearing up the one-story-tall pile of debris that left the entire base of the building exposed.
Officers from the Miami-Dade Police Department stayed behind to continue work searching for human remains and personal items.
Miami-Dade County officials explained that investigators determined that 97 people were reported missing in the collapse.
An additional victim, who died in hospital, was never reported missing.
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But the death toll could still rise, Natalia Jaramillo, deputy communications director for Miami-Dade Mayor Daniella Levine Cava, told NBC News.
"There may be someone who was there and no one reported," he explained.
For nearly two weeks, the grueling search of the huge pile of rubble was conducted as a search and rescue effort, giving loved ones of the missing a diminishing shred of hope that a survivor could be found.
[An engineering company found serious damage in a review of the Surfside building in 2020]
But the last time a person with a pulse was found was hours after half the building collapsed in early June 24.
Officials hoped that demolishing the other half of the building on July 4 would allow crews to search for survivors more safely and efficiently.
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However, on the night of July 7, officials said what the families had known for days but were afraid to hear: the possibility of finding someone alive "was no longer possible."
At midnight that day, just before two weeks had passed since the building's 12-story building became a mound of rubble in seconds, the search shifted to a recovery effort.
[Surfside survivors cry out for official help after the end of the rescue of people alive in the landslide]
The dangerous and almost uninterrupted search by various agencies led to a gradual increase in the death toll that Mayor Levine Cava shared first with the families of the victims and then with the press, twice a day, for almost three weeks.
The oldest victim, Hilda Noriega, was 92 years old.
The youngest victim, Aishani Gia Patel, was 1 year old and one of 10 children who lost their lives in the collapse.
As the death toll increased, the number of missing persons decreased until the remains of victim number 98 were identified and no more persons were considered missing.
This is what the site of a condo collapse in Surfside, Florida looked like on July 13.
It took teams just over a month to locate all the people who died in the tragedy. Lynne Sladky / AP / AP
Officials had originally said that up to 159 people were missing, but detectives worked for weeks to verify missing-person reports, which could be repeated, and the numbers of people whose whereabouts were determined.
While the number of missing fell by almost a third, the final death toll is no less devastating.
Local and federal investigators are working to determine what caused 55 of the building's 136 units to collapse.
[Structural damage forces Miami court building to close after Surfside collapse review]
Documents released by officials revealed earlier concerns about the structural integrity of Champlain Towers South.
Engineering consultant Frank Morabito's findings showed there were "abundant cracks" and collapses in the building's underground parking lot, according to a 2018 report.
Morabito recommended that the concrete slabs, which "showed problems" next to the entrance and the pool deck, "be removed and replaced in their entirety."
He said the deterioration of the concrete had to "be repaired in a timely manner."
Residents of the building say they were not informed of the 2018 study. In fact, they said they were assured at the time that the building was in good condition.
This was the moment when a 12-story building in Miami partially collapsed
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But a letter from Champlain Towers South chairwoman Jean Wodnicki sent to residents in April revealed that "concrete deterioration" was accelerating, as Morabito predicted.
And a commercial contractor who inspected the pool a week before the collapse told the Miami Herald that "there was standing water in the entire parking lot," and that the largest pool of water was in Plaza 78, located below the terrace. from the pool, where Morabito had reported "significant structural damage."
[No, a Navy explosion did not cause the building in Surfside to collapse]
After the collapse, Levine Cava ordered an audit of all buildings in the county that are five stories or more and are 40 years old or close to their birthday.
He encouraged municipalities to do the same, offering the county's support.
Since then, at least five buildings in Florida have been evacuated.
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The recovery and identification of the last remains does not mark the end of the work on the rubble.
Teams are still seeking evidence to catalog for investigation and personal belongings, including religious items, firearms, photo albums and jewelry, that they hope can be returned to the victims' families.