If it had made landfall just 15 miles to the north of where it hit, the damage probably would have been tripled. Miami literally did dodge a bullet, because as bad as it was, it could have been much, much worse.
Flying into Orlando that day I got to see a good view of Andrew from above.
Andrew changed the course of my career. In order to assist a company that lost their systems in the hurricane, I was recruited to provide a service while working for an industry competitor. This gave me the confidence and wherewithal to become an independent consultant that has led to an interesting journey through multiple industries. I can’t believe it has been 20 years.
I was living in an apartment complex not far from the Metro Zoo when it hit.
Ah yes, the storm that exposed massive fraud in the Florida construction industry. The wink and a nod building permits and non existent building codes
My Mother and I left from Miami on a 7 day cruise on the 22nd of August 1992.
We left her 2 yr. old sedan on the pier, because we intended to drive back to St. Louis after the cruise. When we left on Saturday, Andrew was out there but not too threatening, so the ship rerouted to the west of the Bahamas and we didn’t even get any rough seas from it. On board the ship, we didn’t realize until Sunday night what devastation was about to hit Miami. The cruise was uneventful but we could get no information about what awaited us in Miami on the return.
On the return to the port of Miami, the water in the channel was an ugly brown, and private boats sunk at their docks. Miami was battered with rags flapping out of missing windows. Luckily, my Mom’s car was still on the pier. We quickly loaded our luggage in and headed for the interstate, but at first I had no brakes. I’m sure they had been in water, and the paint had also been sand-blasted.
There were either no street signs (again, sand-blasted off) or they were bent over parallel to the ground. The trees still standing looked as if a giant chainsaw had split them vertically and the seaward side was gone. People were living under the elevated interstate in bushes or make-shift shelters. We finally got on the interstate and headed north and didn’t stop until we needed gas.
Hugo was ‘my’ hurricane. More than 20 years. One doesn’t forget stuff like that.