I lived through Andrew personally and was there 25 miles to the north of the eye. The thing was then...channel 7 and 10 went live with refrigeration trucks pulling up to Homestead Air Force Base and tons of body bags.
Why?
Illegals who were afriad to check into a shelter because of no ID or anything, were afriad of being deported and all decided to ride it out in south Dade and Naranja.
A similar thing reportedly happened with Charley last year and the coast filled with mexicans and nicaraguans as well who have not been seen since the day of the storm.
Illegals don't go to shelters out of fear of the police.It is very common.
It is also a sign that would drive locals insane knowing how many died in Miami and would leave especially after finding out how many illegals lived amongst them. Big political issues.
Never knew this. Very informative.
Not to cast aspersions at your friend, Headache, but I ain't buying into his story. While the toll will surely go up sharply when efforts turn from rescue to recovery, his observations sound way out of line. Such numbers would certainly have to come from storm surge area, and there are enough reporters pestering enough people that there would be at least a few who would do their damndest to emulate Gunga Dan, and scream the story to the world, after pumping up the figures by a factor of at least 3 of course.