| It was after 1 a.m. Thursday, and the night owls at Champlain Towers South in Surfside, Fla., were up watching TV, relaxing on their terraces, chatting on the phone. A gentle tropical breeze swept in off the ocean. Then, a howling sound. Midway up the 12-story condo building, eerie orange flashes pierced the night. The building abruptly shook and rumbled. People heard a boom, then a louder one. And then a massive hunk of the building dropped out of existence. It just fell. Between 55 and 70 apartments worth of concrete, steel and furnishings collapsed into a smoking, burning pile. | 
