SURFSIDE, Fla. — One year ago Friday, 98 people lost their lives to a building collapse in Surfside.

It happened at the Champlain Towers South at 1:22 a.m., leading to a search and rescue mission that lasted weeks.

On Friday, exactly one year later, more than 1,000 people turned out for a memorial, just one of many events Surfside planned for families and the town.

Some families met overnight at 1:22 a.m. for a private lighting vigil, and for some, it was their first time back to the site where their lives changed forever.

Hours before the vigil began Friday morning, Josefina Henriques came to the site where the Champlain Towers South once stood with her sisters. 

Henriques lost her daughter Anna, her grandson Louis and five other family members in the collapse.

This weekend is her first time back to the site where she lost so many.

“I have been in therapy, in grieving group, to heal, try to heal this,” Henriques said, holding back tears. “It is going to take me time.”

Despite living about an hour away from Surfside, she was determined to be there for her daughter.

“I want her to know that I am here,” Henriques said. “Unless she is in heaven, that is why I am here.”

She left the area following Friday's early-morning vigil, but returned hours later for the city’s memorial service, where first lady Dr. Jill Biden and Gov. Ron DeSantis spoke.

“We are now going to be able to designate this portion of Collins Avenue, 98 Points of Light Road,” DeSantis said, holding the new sign up at the memorial. “Every time people drive by, they are going to be reminded that there were great people that lived in that tower.”

Before the service concluded, Henriques took some time outside the memorial to write a note for her daughter and talk about what she will now look forward to following this tragic one-year anniversary.

“I’m going to have a grandson,” she said, crying. “I am happy, have to move on.”