19 years ago today

[draggar]

Hurricane Andrew slammed into Miami as a category 5 hurricane and obliterated Homestead.

Bryan Norcross and the rest of the channel 4 news team broadcasted from a bunker all night. They took in many calls from frightened residents who decided to ride out the storm.

One of their helicopter pilots was a military pilot for decades and did a lot of surveillance. When the news casters said that others were comparing it to a "warzone" he said "parts are worse than Hiroshima".

When asked about Homestead AFB his (somber) response was "it's just a runway now".

[tropicsgoddess]

Oh man, I remember Hurricane Andrew! I was 8 at the time. I was a bit scared of it, I mean who wouldn't be scared of a big storm coming your way! We lived in a townhouse in Broward County and I remember seeing my dad board up and tape up the windows and my mom stocking the house up with food, batteries and the like for the hurricane. My little sisters were scared of it too, we drew pictures of it (sadly we don't have them anymore) but I do remember them quite well. Mine was a picture of the Doppler radar version of the storm and we all drew pictures of things flying around and people running scared of the storm. We slept through it but when I woke up (after the storm passed) I remember seeing so many leaves scattered on our front porch. A day or two after the storm passed, my parents had me and my sisters stay at a neighbors house while they went out to volunteer in Dade county. We got lucky in Broward but Dade got epic amounts of damage.There were rumors that they would make a category 6 on the Saffir-Simpson scale for Andrew (but that never came to pass).

[Jester]

Despite the fact that I lived in Arizona and had never experienced a hurricane at that point, I remember Andrew well.

I was working at a call center for a national hotel chain, and the day or two leading up to Andrew, we were booking rooms like crazy in Florida. It got to the point where conversations like the following ensued:

CALLER: "I need a room in Orlando, please."
US: "I'm sorry, but it seems all our rooms in our Orlando hotels are sold out due to the storm.
CALLER: "Okay, well what about something near Orlando?"
US: "Actually, it appears that everything in the vicinity is completely sold out."
CALLER: "Well, what is the closest available room?"
US: "Georgia."

That is not an exaggeration, either. Every room we had in the entire state of Florida was sold out. And yes, most of the conversations were that polite. I don't remember anyone being rude or obnoxious, though some of them were clearly stressed and/or harried. Can't say I blame them. I DO remember that the last woman I found a room for within a hundred miles of where she was reacted so thankfully that, had I been in the room with her, she probably would have kissed my feet, or offered to wax my car, or something like that.

The day after Andrew hit (and keep in mind, living in the desert, outside of work I wasn't really paying attention to the storm, even on the news), I came into work and, as I settled into my station, noticed a little note on my computer screen that said something to the effect of "The Homestead property is offline." Which resulted in this conversation betwixt myself and my supervisor:

JESTER: "Hey, Supe, what's this about?"
SUPE: "What's what about?"
JESTER: "Why is the Homestead hotel offline?" (Normally such notes had an explanation, this one didn't.)
SUPE: "Because it's gone."
JESTER: "Gone? What do you mean, gone?"
SUPE: "As in, it's no longer there."
JESTER: "What? What are you talking about? What happened?"
SUPE: "The hurricane basically wiped the entire town of Homestead off the map."
JESTER: "Say what?" (thinking she was joking)
SUPE: [pointed serious stare]
JESTER:

That, my friends, was my first exposure to the true devastation of a hurricane.

And now I live in the Florida Keys.

[draggar]

I was watching some old news report about it today and Larry King asked one of the NOAA people "If this is a category 4, what is a category 5?".

I also remember the Category 6 talk.

Wilma was a Cat3 when she went though here and she scared the hell out of us. I can't even imagine trying to weather out a Cat4/5.

[Jester]

Wilma was a Cat 3 when she blew through the Keys. And she was the worst storm to hit Key West in seventy years.

When people ask me what a Category 5 is, I answer very simply, "The wrath of God." And it's one of the few times in my life when I am not in any way joking.

[tropicsgoddess]

Wilma was a Cat 3 when she blew through the Keys. And she was the worst storm to hit Key West in seventy years.

When people ask me what a Category 5 is, I answer very simply, "The wrath of God." And it's one of the few times in my life when I am not in any way joking.

That and what I like to call "Oh Shit! Ruuuun!!!" . Wilma did do some damage and it was a high cat 2/ low cat 3. I was out of work for a week (I was 21 and worked in a call center doing outbound surveys) since all the traffic lights were down and I had no transportation whatsoever (no cab, no bus no rides from friends and family....nada). A friend's mom had to wait 6 hours in line for gas! I lived in a mobile home park at the time and some of the homes in my neighborhood looked like opened up sardine cans! Roofs torn halfway off the house, half of the houses exposed, it was bad. I remember coming back home and one of the little planes (possibly a Cessna) in one of those small hangars in Hollywood was flipped on it's back like a cockroach! Thankfully mine and SO's house (it was our first place together and on our own) fared okay..just part of the car port was damaged (one of the beams gave way) and had to replace one of the front windows with plexi-glass.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

I remember Andrew mostly because I stayed up late at night to watch the storm porn on the Weather Channel.

I just found it exciting to see what weather like that would be like. It's nothing like I would ever get here, and I am glad for that.

Then again, I'm the guy heading outside when the tornado sirens go off seeing if I can actually see a tornado.

I'm really in the wrong line of work, ya know? I should've been a storm chaser. Extreme weather fascinates me.

[draggar]

I remember Andrew mostly because I stayed up late at night to watch the storm porn on the Weather Channel.

Jonas Quinn?

[Eisa]

My aunt went through Andrew in Mobile, Alabama. After it was over, the utility room ceiling almost fell on her--she walked out of the room like ten seconds before it collapsed.

[Nurian]

I've never been through a hurricane nor had any family go through it. But I had friends in Joplin when an EF-5 tornado strolled through. I also saw pictures of Greensburg after the first EF-5 was recorded. Mother Nature: she's a cold-hearted sometimes...

[Cat]

As I've mention, I have a degree in meteorology, with my passion being hurricanes (esp historical ones)

I would never want to go through a Cat 5. Keep in mind, Katrina was a Cat 4.

Interesting fact about Andrew....it was classified a Cat 4 when he hit, ten years later with far better data...he was a Cat 5. A beast of a storm.

Keep safe, well, and calm, all though in Irene's path. She is looking like Gloria in 86.

[Sapphire Silk]

Keep safe, well, and calm, all though in Irene's path. She is looking like Gloria in 86.

Gloria was '85. I remember, because when Gloria glanced off the coast of the Eastern Shore of Maryland, I was a new LPN grad getting ready to take Boards.

The worst of the storm missed us, but the Eastern Shore is mostly below sea level, and the flooding was something horrible. Most of the hospital staff could not make it into the hospital to work because so many roads were flooded and bridges washed out. The hospital was so understaffed, they put out an emergency call for anyone with any medical training to please volunteer to help take care of patients.

I didn't have a temporary license (hadn't applied for one as I had gone right back to school to work on a BSN that I didn't complete at that school), so they put me to work as a CNA on one of the med surg units. The hurricane rolled in overnight. I can remember feeling the building shake (I was on the 5th floor ) and the wind howl. Couldn't see much; the windows were all boarded up.

Next morning, I grabbed a couple hours sleep, then drove to Baltimore to take Boards.

To my surprise, I passed. I was pretty brain fried and thought I'd blown it.

Then a couple of weeks after that, I got a check. They actually paid me their going rate for CNAs for helping out. That was a complete surprise; I actually called the hospital to double check they understood I was not an employee, but was just doing my civic good deed in an emergency. They assured me it was no mistake and thanked me for my help.

[Cat]

And that is why I shouldn't type in the early AM. *ashamed*

I was in 2nd grade then. No power for a week.

[Sarlon]

I remember andrew...I lived just north of homestead in palm beach county.

I was...9 or 10 I believe and I remember it well. Bunch of the 7th and 8th graders in my school as a class project went down to homestead to volunteer.

I remember pictures of the devestation....

our damage? couple of dead branches fell, minor tear on your screen porch and TONS of lost fruit (grapefruit and orange trees in the back yard).

[Seraph]

My most vivid memory of Andrew was of my mother and father both pushing against the front door, desperately trying to keep it shut. Mom was screaming, and my dad was just doing all he could to try and push it closed. I lived in Lafayette at the time, so we got Andrew full force.

I think what happened was my dad attempted to go out and film some of the hurricane, but nearly was hit by some flying debris. When he tried to get back inside, the storm had intensified just...so, so much.

When the morning came...most of our neighborhood was just...smashed. We ended up literally being forced to move within a couple of months, as the place where my dad worked was destroyed.