Hurricane Andrew Strikes South Florida August 24,1992.

[Aslkahuna]

Hurricane Andrew was not the only notable hurricane to strike the US in 1992. Iniki in September slamdanced Hawai'i and from a Meteorological standpoint was probably even more unique than Andrew since intense hurricanes into FL are not uncommon while one on the order of Iniki is very rare in HI. In addition, Typhoon Omar blasted Guam in August 1992 and Jim Leonard's long form video of that storm is probably one of the best Tropical Cyclone videos out there. Another unique event of 1992 was Tropical Storm Lester which brought hurricane force wind gusts to parts of SE AZ over 300 miles inland.

Steve

[Category 5]

The voice during andrew that guided south florida during the storm....

Bryan Norcross Video

He was a hero that night, who knows how many lives he may have saved.

[TheShrimper]

Frank, the funeral home in question was Branam on the corner of Krome and Campbell. That is where the director was working during Andrew. Do you know anything about the death care industry? I do, very much so. Every funeral home knows what is happening at the ME's office, and through the pick up of the deceased, word gets out as to "what is going on". A certain home need not be directly involved, but through correspondence on a regular day basis, information is leaked whether your governmental brainwashed mind admits it or not. You can say what you want, and what you say can be taken as gospel by the lemmings, or discarded by the learned, in view of the FACTS. The people I know have lived in south Dade longer than you have, and in those years, they have become close aquaintances to the hierarchy involved in situations of the sort. I could disclose some names that are well known in the Krome Ave. corridor, but I will fail to do so. You probably know all of them, if your claim to residency is factual. Another thing that needs to be disclosed.. if the deceased have no SS cards, idenification ect....then there is no death recorded by the county. They do not exist, pure and simple. You believe what you want, or what you were ordered to...i'll take the word of the uninfluential any day of the week over ones that are tainted or manipulated.

[Frank2]

TWC as the eye made landfall, Jim Cantore, Dennis Smith, and John Hope!!! Those were the days...

Yes, I agree - TWC was TWC in those days...

And, in the days before Jim shaved his head and became a QB (que ball)...

Today, most of the male TWC OCM staff would not be a good ad for Hair Club for Men, that's for sure...

LOL

[DanKellFla]

TWC as the eye made landfall, Jim Cantore, Dennis Smith, and John Hope!!! Those were the days...

Yes, I agree - TWC was TWC in those days...

And, in the days before Jim shaved his head and became a QB (que ball)...

Today, most of the male TWC OCM staff would not be a good ad for Hair Club for Men, that's for sure...

LOL

Hope was a great one. And you are being kind to Jim. Yes, he is shaving his head, but his hair is a bit thinner than it used to be.

My brother works for Hair Club for men, and no, he is not a client.

[Frank2]

Being bald is a good thing - as long as they have a melon suitable for that style...

Of course, for a variety of reasons, some folks can't avoid being without hair, and, that's a different issue entirely (having helped take care of cancer patients, I can say that for sure), but, at least nowdays being without is fashionable...

Frank

[windstorm99]

Folks here are some more chilling videos....Check them out!

Hurricane Andrew approaching south florida video!

WHAT IF ANDREW WOULD HAVE HIT A FUTHER NORTH.....


For those in south florida NBC 6 will be doing a 1/2 hour show on Hurricane Andrew.Tune in.

[windstorm99]

Bump...

[Recurve]

Monday evening. We had evacuated to Highlands County, and trying to get news. There were women from HAFB, miami families and Keys people at a little motel. We'd heard "the Keys are destroyed" but nothing for sure. We'd watched the eye until landfall. That afternoon we kept waiting for helicopters to show the area.

We drove back and the view in Homestead was like nothing I could imagine. The clothes in the high tension lines over the Turnpike. Smashed concrete buildings and neighborhoods mowed down, complete rubble in Florida City.

If you were anywhere near Homestead 15 years ago today, you're probably never bored by "no development expected."

[TheShrimper]

You are absolutely correct Recurve. It did not matter what news agency was showing the videos. As horrific as the footage was via the news media, it dwarfed in comparison to when you not only saw it, but felt when witnessing it in person. You try to convey that to people, and they just shrug thier shoulders, dispelling what you are trying to get across to them. Across the nation, people saw what happened. But untill you were there, you did not feel what had happened. The videos alone did not do the hurricane justice in terms of devistation. All that were there can vouge for that.

[cpdaman]

hurricane andrew really was a sneaky and devastating storm. a feat hard to accomplish (one might have thought)

it is scary that we are living on borrowed time in the south florida area, I mean if a storm with the power of andrew and the size of wilma were to hit (say N. broward county) from the east, the damage would be unrivaled (structuraly) (and in $ loss) and usually storms hitting from the east are at least holding their own.

the amount of people in pure shock and homeless after such a storm would be disturing and sobering. large affluent areas (west palm, miami , ft laud, boca raton) would be severely damaged. I have new respect for hurricane andrew survivors and anyone that goes thru a life and death experience like that. IMO most south floridians can't comprehend what a storm like this could do (or more likely they don't want to )

[Sanibel]

Something in me asks what a concrete hurricane proof dome house would have done in Andrew's worst eyewall area? I would love to have seen one of those structures in place - or even road out Andrew inside one. I just would like to see what a serious hurricane code house would do and how much it would justify its extra cost in it's survival.

[ExBailbonds]

There are a hundreds of homes in Liesure City ( Wich did see the eye of andrew ) that have flat poured concrete roofs. The ones that had the windows shuttered had no damage at all.

They were built in the early 60's. They were built like bomb shelters. I did see a few with blown out windows. ( No shutters )

[Derek Ortt]

another interesting aspect of the damage, it was in streaks similar to tornadoes in the midwest


nothing survived the streaks of highest winds, and many structures were untouched outside of the streaks

[Frank2]

...another interesting aspect of the damage, [were the] streaks similar to tornadoes in the midwest

If I remember correctly (I watch too much Iron Chef - I'm starting to sound like the Chairman - haw), the late Dr. Fujita did arrive in South Dade a few days later, and, said that indeed some of the damage paths seemed to be caused by tornadoes...

[Derek Ortt]

I don't think he said they were caused by tornadoes, but miniswirls within the eyewall (most all major hurricanes have similar damage patterns, Celia in 1970 was also very similar)

[Frank2]

You're right - my brain is turning to jello...

That reminds me...

I recently heard a woman say that she is very good at the cello, and, I said, "Sure, it's easy to prepare - as long as it isn't lime green!"

Uh-oh

P.S. I had my bell rung last month (a/k/a a mild concussion) - it must still be lingering (haw)...

[Sanibel]

I read an article in 'National Geographic' soon after Andrew saying the worst damage occured in tornadic cells inside the worst of the eyewall. I think they called them "hot cells". They occurred because Andrew was intensifying, causing imbalances in the inner structure that resulted in tornadoes. The damage pattern could be seen from above showing certain neighborhoods completely destroyed while the next block had lesser damage. The paths of these hot cells could be followed through the damage zone.

[Derek Ortt]

they weren't tornadoes, sanibel... tornadoes do not form in the eyewall. Those are smaller scale features, though in Andrew, they were the equivalent of very strong EF4 or EF5 tornadoes


Construction was not the problem in Dade with Andew... Coral Gables and South miami survived true cat 3 conditions with significant damage, but the cities remained in tact (the same cannot be said for most of the remainder of the USA even in upper cat 1 winds)... the cat 5 winds were the problem

[Sanibel]

they weren't tornadoes, sanibel... tornadoes do not form in the eyewall. Those are smaller scale features, though in Andrew, they were the equivalent of very strong EF4 or EF5 tornadoes

Yes, I was thinking that when I wrote it. The 'National Geographic' article said these small tornadic vortex's came in bunches in that area of the eyewall causing winds over 200mph in spots and the resulting total destruction of the houses underneath. Scary stuff. As you say, they were not a big 'Wizard of Oz' Kansas tornadoes inside Andrew, but clusters of intense vortex's.