The costliest hurricane in U.S. History formed like all tropical systems as a tropical depression on August 16. It formed out in the traditional breeding ground for hurricanes, near the Cape Verde islands. Four days later, it moved to the north of the Lesser Antillies in the Caribbean and stayed north of the rest of the islands. Andrew remained a minimal tropical storm untill the 22nd when it reached hurricane status. It was the first such hurricane to form from a tropical wave in 2 years. Winds were only at 80 mph moving rather briskly for a hurricane to the west toward the Bahamas. 24 hours later, the catagory storm blew up into a catagory 4 hurricane and moving head on into the Central Bahamas. The pressure fell 52 millibars during that time spread. Later on that day, the 23rd, Andrew peaked at 155 mph winds which is one mph away from catagory 5 status. That fury slammed right into the Bahamas. The islands weakened the hurricane a little bit but it was still a catagory 4 once it cleared the island nation. Damage in the Bahamas reached a quarter of a billion dollars. But now it was heading right for the heavily populated Miami metropolitan area. Forecasters feared it could strengthen into a catagory 5 storm due to it passing through the Gulf Stream. A catagory 5 storm's winds start at 156 mph and they cause catastrophic damage. A storm like that would flatten the South Florida metropolis. However by storms end, Andrew didn't have to be cat 5 to cause catastrophic damage. Andrew was a small hurricane in circumference. Well over one million people evacuated South Florida with 55,000 evacuating from the Keys. At 5am on August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall in South Dade County in Homestead, Florida with winds sustained at 145 mph at landfall. Storm surge approached 17 feet in Biscayne Bay south of Miami as much of the city was in the most dangerous part of the storm, the northern eye wall. Andrew avoided making a direct hit on the city which would have been even worse damage then it already caused. That wasn't the case for the Homestead area which was nearly leveled by the fury of Andrew. The severe damage was found in the 30-mile eye wall which passed right over the suburb causing extreme to catastrophic damage to homes and the Air Force base. Much of the damage came from the wind instead of the storm surge. In fact, only 23 people died in South Florida which was remarkable since Andrew hit the heavily populated Miami area and since it was so strong. Gusts from Andrew were estimated at over 200 mph! The extreme damage was mainly on a line from Kendell south through Homestead to Florida City to Key Largo. Over 25,000 homes were destroyed, over 100,000 homes were damaged. 99% of the mobile homes in Homestead were obliterated. 90% of the mobile homes in Dade County were destroyed. A half a billion dollars in damage to boats in South Florida. Among the damages was the National Weather Service radar in Miami. Here's some more stats from Andrew: obliterated 102 miles of power lines & 300 towers, 25,000 gallons of oil spilled into biscayne bay, 7 million fish killed due to depleted oxygen in waterways, 8% of all florida agriculture destroyed, 300 square miles of total devestation directly after Andrew 1.3 million without electricity, 2,200 traffic lights destroyed, 90%of small businesses destroyed, 25 Billion dollars damage in Florida, in Homestead 80% of homes destroyed, 10,000 acres of nurseries ruined, In Homestead 7,500 families left homeless out of 26,000, after the storm phone systems overwhelmed with 80,000 calls per minute, calls to police before Andrew 1,500 per day & after andrew 6,000 per day, 14% of Dade residents temporarily unemployed, 300,000 homeless right after the storm, 140,000 unemployed in florida, and 1 week after Andrew 300,000 still without power. But Andrew wasn't done yet. It crossed the Florida Peninsula and reemrged in the Gulf. On the early morning hours of August 26, Andrew made landfall as a catagory 3 storm with 130 mph winds near Morgan City, Lousiana. Storm surge was at 8 feet and rainfall rates ran as high as 12 inches. 2 people died in Louisiana. Damage in Louisiana reached half a billion dollars. Andrew moved on shore and weakened over the southeast. It was the costliest natural disaster in U.S. History with all totaled 25 billion dollars in damage.For MRS Weather, I'm Marcus Smith.MRS Weather
The Weather Century
