Surfside survivor Steve Rosenthal was asleep that night when he was suddenly jarred awake by “the loudest thunder I’ve ever heard – times 100,” he told Fox News.

“I thought it was a major storm coming into Miami. Five seconds later the bed starts to shake, the room starts to shake and I honestly thought I was dreaming about being caught in an earthquake in California.”

But when dust began falling on his face, Steve concluded that it was a real earthquake right there in Miami. He ran to the balcony but all he could see was dust. He ran to his bedroom and packed a bag and ran to his front door to escape. But there was so much debris blocking the hallway that he couldn’t leave.

Meanwhile, he heard his neighbors from next door, a Jewish couple from Venezuela who lived only one unit away from, him screaming “Help!” He later found out that they didn’t make it.

Once he realized he couldn’t pass through the debris, Steve went back to his balcony and waited there until he was rescued.

Steve was the first person to file a lawsuit against the condominium association. When the Fox interviewer asked him why he filed it so quickly, he answered that his lawyer told him that he needs to protect his interests. “It doesn’t matter if you’re the first one or the hundredth one and I just wanted to get it out of the way,” he said. “It’s no question that everyone is going to file a lawsuit.”

Steve, one of over 100 survivors of the disaster, is currently living at the Mariott Surfside along with many other survivors. Their stay is being funded by the Red Cross.

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)