15 years ago tonight...KABOOOOM!

[JR]

If I live to be 100, I'll never forget the nightmare that was Hurricane Andrew. It was crazy. In the middle of the night it sounded like a freight train was running over the house for 7 hours. The plywood on my windows blew away in the first 5 minutes. My carport was in what was left of a tree a half-mile away.

It was so loud, I could not hear that 4 HUGE trees had fallen on the house. When the entire radar dome blew off the National Hurricane Center, the wind was clocked at 168 mph. Only 1 TV station was still operating from a concrete bunker and generator power. It was scary as hell. And whole neighborhoods were blown away. It really looked and felt like a bomb blast. It was a true nightmare.

Ah, but unlike his idiot son, George HW Bush showed up and sent more than 20,000 troops.

 

[GL]

wow. has it been 15 years already?

...just because.

 

[Txgoodoldboy]

That was some storm. It is hard to believe, it has been that long ago.

 

[RandomAccess]

I know how you feel, JR. It wasn't nearly so bad with Charlie, but, I've never been so scared. And I used to live in tornado country!

 

[Ninja108]

Hurricane Andrew was the last category five hurricane to hit the U.S.

 

[nathan482]

I remember so clearly ... I was so fortunate to just have roof damage..neighborhoods
were completely destroyed.

 

[JR]

Hurricane Andrew was the last category five hurricane to hit the U.S.

There was actually a record gust of 212 mph recorded in Perrine just before that facility was destroyed. Crazy.

I just hugged my kitty. She was a little kitten during the storm. She's a fat old cat now, but she'll always be my frightened little kitten who weathered that storm with me.

Here are some stats from the Miami Herald:

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]43 - Killed.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Housing Units Destroyed - 28,000.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Housing Units with Major Damage - 52,340.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Businesses Damaged or Destroyed - 82,000.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hospital Damaged - 9.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Public Schools Destroyed - 10.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Public Schools Damaged - 23. ($300 million loss).[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Traffic & Street Lights Destroyed - 7,200.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Number of Military at Peak Deployment- 29,300.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Damage to Agriculture - $1 billion.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Number of People Lost Job - 86,000.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Number of People Homeless - 160,000.[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]700,000 people evacuated[/FONT]​

[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]35 million tons of garbage created (30 years worth).[/FONT]​

 

[TriBi]

Wow - that last pic looks a bit like Darwin after Cyclone Tracey...

 

[doctorsun]

Does it still hold the record for the costliest natural disaster in US history, or did Katrina steal that one?

 

[JR]

Does it still hold the record for the costliest natural disaster in US history, or did Katrina steal that one?

Seriously, I suspect that Katrina was supposed to break that record. But then groups came in to protest Halliburton coming in to rebuild crappy homes for 10 times the actual costs. So the final tallies didn't end up topping Andrew the last time I looked.

 

[Circe Infuria]

If I live to be 100, I'll never forget the nightmare that was Hurricane Andrew. It was crazy. In the middle of the night it sounded like a freight train was running over the house for 7 hours.

I was in high school when Andrew passed thru here in Louisiana. We were all really freaked out when it came up the Mississippi River just as if we sent it an engraved invitation.

It was the first major hurricane I've ridden out, and it was the first time that I actually heard a tornado. It indeed sounded like a freight train. I never saw it, but I did see the damage it did after it passed over my house. Thankfully it never touched ground around us, but it didn't have a problem blowing down fences and huge trees, blowing roofs off of houses, etc. As if we didn't have enough going on with the hurricane...

It was so loud, I could not hear that 4 HUGE trees had fallen on the house.

Yep. It was so loud we never heard it uproot the neighbor's 150 year old tree and drop it casually on the backyard neighbor's roof.

It was scary as hell. And whole neighborhoods were blown away. It really looked and felt like a bomb blast. It was a true nightmare.

It was one of the few times in my life when I was really convinced I was going to die.

Waiting for a tornado to plow thru your house or have the hurricane push a huge tree on top of you isn't fun.

 

[chatolandia]

I grew up in a country in the middle of hurricane alley, yet never experienced one, until Hugo in 1989.

That was freaky and scary!

I remember the glass door in the balcony moving like a paper sheet in the wind. It never broke, thank God!

and that was a very small one, not even a major hit!

We may have long winters here, but no hurricanes, and that is fine with me!

 

[Ninja108]

I believe Katrina is now the costliest natural diaster. That however, can easily change. All that needs to happen is for a direct hit on Miami or New York City.

 

[Shepherd 2]

15 years later,
JR let us hope there is no repeat
of the tragedy of Hurricane Andrew.
My sister finally sold her holdings in central
Florida
after two hurricanes came by and not only blew
down several homes, but wiped out a few of
her dearest friends. She now huddles in the Pocono
Mountains of Pennsylvania and shivers year round.
And frets about the ruined lives of her friends.
Shep+