leo soto, we freesht you talking to us and setting up that memorial that allows people a place to venteflect on the devastation that we're all experiencing. thank you so much. >> it's the least i could do. >> reporter: of course. stay with cnn. just ahead, we're going to take you into a meeting between officials and families where emotions boiled over. and of course, for more information on how you can help the victims of the surfside building collapse, you can go to cnn.com/impact. we have a list of charities there you can donate to that have been vetted so you know that your dollars will go to where they are needed most. we'll be right back. new projects means new project managers. you need to hire. i need indeed. indeed you do. the moment you sponsor a job on indeed you get a short list of quality candidates from our resume database. claim your seventy five dollar credit, when you post your first job at indeed.com/home. for a limited time, you can save more on flights, hotels and rental cars during priceline's freedom sale. and when you get a big deal... ...you feel like a big deal.

. >> reporter: leo soto is waiting for updates on his friends. they lived on the eighth floor. >> you're watching grandmothers and moms and families that have been affected differently. generations of life taken from us. >> surfside set up a website for people to donate to the victims. $1.2 million has been raised so far. >>> now, the u.s. launching new air strikes in the middle east taking aim at iranian backed militias near the syrian border. pentagon officials say there are serious threats. julia macfarlane is with us. julia, good morning. >> reporter: good morning, mona. the pentagon said president biden authorized these air strikes against iranian backed militia groups. they conducted drone attacks against u.s. personnel inside iraq. f-15 jets targeted weapon storage facilities. the pentagon calling this a matter of self-defense. it's too early to know if there were casualties. this is the second attack ordered under the biden administration. the last one came in february after rocket attacks damaged a base in northern iraq and killed a civi

. >> reporter: leo soto hoping for some good news about his friend. on the eighth floor. >> there is always hope that the miami rescue team can pull a miracle and get some survivors out of there. >> reporter: the town of surfside releasing documents on the building from 2018. the estimated cost was $9.1 million to address issues raised in a 2018 report that found major structural damage to the concrete below the pool deck, including failed waterproofing. engineers also filing another document at the time, describing the overall concrete framing as being in good condition. susannah alvarez telling npr she lived on the tenth floor and said back in 2018 after the inspection, a surfside inspector assured residents the building was in very good shape. >> no one ever, ever, ever told us that that building was in such bad shape. >> reporter: abc news confirmed that official assured the building was fine, and a current surfside commissioner tells us that inspector's interpretation of the 2018 report was misleading. residents at the identical sister building u

. >> leo soto from miami has two friends from champlain towers south who are missing.zed this makeshift memorial on friday. >> just seeing how people are walking up to the memorial, adding their own flowers, adding little post-it notes of personal sayings to make people feel better, it's incredibly heartwarming. because it really does feel like it's helping. >> creating a space for the community to come together to grieve. >> my emotions have gone from just utter sadness, devastation, shock, to a sense of hope and a sense of community and belief willethrough this. together, >> getting through it together. thank you so much for watching. i'm linsey davis. hope to see you right back here tomorrow night. for david and all of us here, good night for david and all of us here, good night. [speaking foreign language] >> you owe $3,000? >> [speaking foreign language] >> while politicians talk policy on rent protection, its people like maria who will feel the practical effects of their decisions. she's lost her apartment and this hotel is the last stop before she and her family

leo soto's friends, nicky langesfeld and her fiance luis sadovnic, were on the eighth floor. >> there's always hope that the miami rescue team can pull a miracle and get some survivors out of there. >> reporter: valery manashirova's newlywed brother russel and sister-in-law had just moved into their seventh floor apartment. >> is he in the hospital? is he in the rubble? they just don't know. we just want to know already. >> reporter: but for the family of manny lafont, grim news as police said his body had been identified. >> the best father you can ever imagine. the guy was so into my kids. >> stephanie ramos joins us now. she has been there for days at the reunification site with the families as they await word. what are officials saying about how they're keeping families in the loop? >> reporter: linsey, officials say they are really trying to comfort these families that have been here for four days waiting to hear about their loved ones, not only taking them to the site of the wreckage today but also now holding regular briefings. one family telling me that they're now splitting peo

grandmother, she's okay >> reporter: as the memorial builds every day, adorned with pictures and messages, leo sotolace, a familiarity. it's just like everybody understood each other. we might be strangers, we might not know each other, but we're going to hug each other, we're going to cry with each other >> reporter: and as more victims are identified, we are learning more about their lives and love. gladys and antonio lazano were married for 59 years they knew each other for 68, until the tragedy. guys, we know that families are getting briefings twice a day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, before the public briefings. savannah, back to you. >> so many heartbreaking stories. sam, thank you very much for the update >>> meanwhile, excessive heat warnings are in effect today for millions of americans on both ends of the country. and what really jumps out is the situation in the pacific northwest, cities like seattle and portland sweating through record breaking triple digit temperatures power outages are already a problem, and some businesses have even decided to close until the heat wav