At first, Hurricane Andrew was simply a storm brewing on the coast. No one knew that this simple storm would turn into the most expensive hurricane of the 20th century. Hurricane Andrew passed over the Island of Eleuthra where citizens experienced 160 mph winds and 23 feet rise in sea level. On August 24th 1992, Hurricane Andrew "landed" on the tip of Florida and made its way across Florida, to the gulf of mexico, all the way to Louisiana. As Hurricane Andrew came to an end, It left a lot of damage in its wake. In florida, 25% of the trees in the everglades were toppled. High winds caused an agricultural loss of $1.04 billion. The community where the hurricane had landed was almost completely destroyed and took over 5 years to be rebuilt once more. About 63,000 homes in Dade County, FL were also destroyed, with another estimated 110,000 additional homes suffered significant damage. In Louisiana, not only were there 8 deaths but the storm damaged corn, soy bean, and sugar crops, with an estimated $200 million in damage done to the sugar crop.
IN TOTAL, Hurricane Andrew killed 65 people and caused $26.5 billion (1992 USD) in damage, making it the second costliest hurricane in U.S. history only after Hurricane Katrina. It was also the fourth most intense hurricane recorded at time of landfall in the United States. |
|