A match of Brazil in Copa America and a ball in the water: the miracle that saved Erick De Moura from death in the collapse of Miami

erick de moura He woke up around 5:30 a.m. Thursday to go to the bathroom. He was at his girlfriend’s house – something rare during the week – and he walked over to the kitchen to get his phone.

It was then that he saw all the calls and texts.

One text in particular was highlighted: it came from Rochelle, a supervisor of the doorman of his building in Collins street at Surfside, Florida, asking if it was okay.

“My god are you alive“, he told him Rochelle a Moorish, 40, when he answered his call.

“What do you mean I’m alive?He replied, still asleep.

“The building collapsed“, she said.

Then came the feeling of shipwreck, confusion and denial. Maybe he meant that a wall had fallen or that there was water in his unit, he thought.

“What do you mean the building collapsed?” He said Of Moorish.

Rochelle He then sent a photo of the rubble and remains of what used to be his house.

In what he describes as a miracle, Moorish was saved from the collapse of Champlain Tours which claimed the lives of ten of its neighbors, 150 of whom are still missing.

“That night was unusual. I was going to leave Fernanda’s house to go to my house to take a shower and die“, He said Of Moorish, referring to his girlfriend, Fernanda Figueiredo, in an interview with The Washington Post.

Of Moorish, natural of BrazilHe had been renting an apartment on the tenth floor for about three years. He spent most of the day in the apartment, where he ran his sales business. He knew a lot of his neighbors and often exchanged jokes, smiles and the occasional gossip about a new resident.

Wednesday, Of Moorish He worked from home as usual, while a pot of feijoada, a typical Brazilian stew, simmered. Dressed in shorts and a soccer jersey Brazil, left the house with the plaque around 6:15 p.m. and went to Figueiredo see the game Brazil against Colombia with two other couples and their children.

Then they went to the yard to play football, but they knew the night was over when the ball fell into the playground channel. Figueiredo. Of Moorish he jumped to retrieve it and entered to escort the guests.

“People were getting into their cars and I said, ‘I’m coming home too’ “, told Of Moorish.

He had a personal workout in the morning and he wasn’t wearing his clothes. But FigueiredoThe 47-year-old insisted she stay and tossed her soaked clothes in the dryer while showering.

The couple stood for a while, chatting and drinking beers before going to bed after 1 a.m. Of Moorish He estimates that he fell asleep about 30 minutes later, around the same time his building collapsed.

Of Moorish He woke up a few hours later and went to get his phone, remembering to set an alarm for the morning.

He didn’t go back to sleep.

Upon learning of the collapse of the condominium, Of Moorish wake up Figueiredo and broke the news to him. She shivered and cried like Of MoorishStill shocked, he got into his car and drove home.

“I couldn’t believe my eyes“, He said. “It was amazing to see where you had lived for the past three years and called home, you know, in the field like that.”.

Since, Of Moorish says he feels numb, angry and confused. He hasn’t cried yet. “I feel like I’m in a dream“, He said Of Moorish. “I feel like I’m in a movie. i’m in a bad movie”.

He was drawn to the scene of the disaster. He has been there twice a day, staying there and hoping that at any time someone will tell him that it is safe to go home. But his house no longer exists.

“I felt safe there“, dice Of Moorish. “It’s the only place I know in Miami “.

Of Moorish He said he knew two of the mentioned victims, one of them is Cassondra Stratton, whose husband heard her scream on the phone as the building collapsed on top of her. Another friend of the building survived and they ended up at the hotel where the residents are staying. She had stayed with her family on Wednesday evening.

Of Moorish he’s still trying to figure out how close he is to death. You observed that none of the people living in the units just above and below were found.

He says his thoughts are too muddled to understand the sequence of events that night. How everything fell into place to convince him to stay, including the football game in Brazil who took him to the house of Figueiredo and soaked clothes.

“For me, for Fernanda, it’s definitely a miracle“, He said Of Moorish. “It’s an act of God”.

(C) The Washington Post.-

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