The partial collapse of the Champlain Towers South condominium in Surfside, Fla. is personal for WSVN chief meteorologist Phil Ferro.
Ferro lost his 79-year-old uncle Antonio Lozano and his 83-year-old godmother Gladys Lozano in the building collapse, which left at least nine people dead and 152 missing.
“In the morning, when my cousin called me, he was basically in tears,” Ferro recalled about the moment he found out. “I still couldn’t believe it, until we got the surveillance video that showed the building collapsing, and that just breaks your heart.”
The couple would have celebrated their 59th wedding anniversary in July.
Ferro described his godmother as “one of the most beautiful people in the world” and said that the couple was the life of the party. “My uncle Tony was very much quick with a joke, and they were truly the kind of people who whenever you needed, they were there for you, for the entire family,” he said.
The meteorologist told the Miami Fox affiliate his cousins are “coping,” and that they are grateful to have “the ability to lay their loved ones to rest,” something many families still don’t have.
“They were found together, and so we’re all just going with the thought that they never knew what happened. They fell asleep, and that was it,” he said.