Avian Flu Diary: Remembering Andrew: 20 Years Ago Today

# 6514

Infrared image of Andrew over Dade county

0900 UTC August 24, 1992. (566K GIF)

Today marks the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, which struck Homestead Florida with CAT 5 force on August 24th, 1992.

I was living aboard my 36 foot sailboat on the west coast of Florida at the time, making hurried plans of what I would do if this monster storm turned in my direction.

As it turned out, I was spared Andrew’s wrath, only to be clobbered 7 months later by the 1993 `storm of the century’.

So today, as we watch an increasingly active Atlantic Basin and the threat posed by a much weaker Isaac heading for the Gulf of Mexico, a remembrance of that disaster 20 years ago.

Here is how Ed Rappaport, of the National Hurricane Center (updated 10 December 1993) described the storm.

Andrew was a small and ferocious Cape Verde hurricane that wrought unprecedented economic devastation along a path through the northwestern Bahamas, the southern Florida peninsula, and south-central Louisiana. Damage in the United States is estimated to be near 25 billion, making Andrew the most expensive natural disaster in U.S. history¹.

The tropical cyclone struck southern Dade County, Florida, especially hard, with violent winds and storm surges characteristic of a category 4 hurricane (see addendum on upgrade to category 5) on the Saffir/Simpson Hurricane Scale, and with a central pressure (922 mb) that is the third lowest this century for a hurricane at landfall in the United States.

In Dade County alone, the forces of Andrew resulted in 15 deaths and up to one-quarter million people left temporarily homeless. An additional 25 lives were lost in Dade County from the indirect effects of Andrew2. The direct loss of life seems remarkably low considering the destruction caused by this hurricane.

Since this writing, of course, we've seen even greater destruction and loss of life caused by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

Whether it is an earthquake, a flood, a hurricane, or a pandemic . . .those who are prepared in advance will find their survival, and even their comfort, greatly enhanced during an emergency.

If you aren't convinced on the importance of being prepared for the unexpected, just click on the pictures below.

They are hard to argue with.

STORM IMAGES (Credit NOAA)

(click to enlarge, but warning: Some are very large)

The last radar image taken from NHC before the WSR-57 radar was blown off the roof, 0835 UTC August 24, 1992. (120K JPEG)

ANDREW'S DAMAGE

The roof sign says it all! (555K GIF)

Lakes by the Bay (751K GIF)

Naranja Lakes (524K GIF)

Naranja Lakes (520K GIF)

Homestead Fl. (530K GIF)

Homestead Fl. (434K GIF)

Devastating hurricanes like Andrew may only come around infrequently, but they do happen. And as Florida’s SERT reminds us;

It only takes one.

Meanwhile, the latest forecasts from the NHC on T.S. Isaac are increasingly encouraging for the west coast of Florida, but less so for the upper-middle Gulf coast.

As the 5am Discussion this morning states:

IT IS IMPORTANT NOT TO FOCUS ON THE EXACT TRACK DUE TO UNCERTAINTIES IN THE INITIAL LOCATION AND THE TRACK FORECAST...AND THE FACT THAT ISAAC HAS A LARGE AREA OF TROPICAL STORM FORCE WINDS ASSOCIATED WITH IT.

Much will depend on how well the storm hangs together as it passes over Haiti and then Cuba, and how quickly it coalesces once over the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.