Hurricane Andrew
Vitals: Hurricane Andrew cost the United States more than $25 billion dollars. Andrew also claimed 26 lives and left more than 250,000 people homeless. It lasted eleven days from August 16-27, 1992 and hit land in the Bahamas, southern Florida, and southcentral Louisiana. This particular hurricane originated off the West Coast of Africa in early August, 1992. On August 17, 1992 it became a tropical depression halfway between Africa and the eastern islands of the Carribean. Later on that day thunderstorms began to form within it and shortly after, the storm reached tropical storm status. The storm then began to move very quickly and it's strength fluctuated for the next few days. On August 21 it gathered more strength and at 5AM on August 22 it reached hurricane status. At 12:48PM on August 23 the hurricane reached Category 4 status. Later on that evening the eye of the storm passed over the Bahamas and the maximum wind gust was measured to be 120 mph. However, when it passed over the Bahamas it began to weaken. Finally, on the morning of August 24 it struck southern Florida. The winds were reported to be up to 140 mph. Eventually, on August 25 Andrew entered the Gulf of Mexico. The hurricane was severly weakened and later on that day it curved northward and struck land in south-central Louisianna. While over Louisiana it was down graded from a Category 4 hurricane to a . While making it's destructive path through Louisianna, it spawned a tornado that had a damage path 9 miles long and 150 yards wide. Finally it was downgraded to a tropical storm near Bayton Rouge and Layfayette, Louisianna.
Damage, Costs, and Deaths: Hurricane Andrew was the third strongest hurricane to hit the United States in the 20th century and the largest to hit Florida in 30 years. Andrew was also the most expensive natural disaster to ever hit the United States. It cost over $25 billion dollars to repair the damages. On it's rampage through the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana it killed 26 people, 15 in Dade County, Florida, and left another 250,000 homeless. In southern Dade county the hurricane destroyed 25,524 homes and damaged 101,241 others. In total, there were approximately 600,000 homes and businesses destroyed or severly damaged by the waves, winds, and rain from Andrew. Over 1.4 million people were left without power and some went with out it for up to six months. It was also estimated that ninety percent of all the mobile homes in South Dade County were totally destroyed and in Homestead, Florida 1167 mobile homes out of the 1176 were destroyed completely. It could have been worse, however, if Hurricane Andrew would have struck 20 miles North in Miami, Florida, a city of 1.9 million people. This would have surely raised the death toll and cost tremendously.
Ecological Effects: Hurricane Andrew not only hurt the human stuctures, but it hurt Mother Nature too. Florida is the home of the wetlands and Andrew managed to pass right through the center of them. The most obvious damage caused there, like everywhere else, was the structural damage (i.e. uprooting trees). The most damage to trees was done in Biscayne National Park and Everglades National Park. In those parks many of the Mangrove trees, on approximately 70,000 acres, were severly damaged or knocked down. All in all, almost any large tree in the storm's path was badly damaged. Andrew did not have much effect on the wildlife, however. Most of the animals survived through the storm and the regrowth of vegetation. The Northern Florida Keys did not escape do as well as the Wetlands. The Northern Keys were completly stripped of vegetation.
On the coast of Louisiana 70 kilometers of sand was stripped off the barrier islands exposing old coastal marsh. Also, over 80 percent of the oyster reefs off the Louisiana coast had between 0.3-0.9 meters of sediment taken away. Finally, more than 70 percent of the dunes used to protect the wetlands and coastal population were also swept away. This just shows that not only were people's homes, communities, and businesses effected by this storm, but many other things were too.
