Today in History: Hurricane Andrew makes landfall in Bahamas
The extremely powerful Hurricane Andrew even carried a freighter nearly a kilometre over the Elliott Key in Florida.
A hurricane so concentrated it resembled a tornado, Andrew made landfall on Eleuthera Island in the Bahamas on this day in 1992, on its way to causing $35 billion worth of damage.
On 15 August 1992, the hurricane formed near Cape Verde in the eastern Atlantic Ocean. It then moved west, attaining hurricane status about 1 200km east of Miami. It was a Category 4 storm by the time it hit Eleuthera, causing a 7m storm surge that devastated nearby Current Island.
Andrew then moved due west, towards Florida. Since it had a very small diameter, it covered distances faster than most hurricanes. South Florida is generally vulnerable to hurricanes – as well as being in the likely path of many storms – as it is only about 6m above sea level.
In the early morning of 24 August, Andrew came ashore at Florida City, about 32km south of Miami. It registered winds of 225km/h with gusts of up to 341km/h.
Rain was not a big factor in the storm, since it was moving very quickly and had a relatively compact punch, but it was still incredibly destructive. In Kendall and Homestead, Andrew uprooted every tree and destroyed 90 per cent of the towns’ homes. The Homestead Air Base was also demolished and all of Dade County lost its electricity.
There were reports of trucks being thrown through the air and steel beams flying up to 45m. The 210-ton freighter Seaward Explorer lost its anchor and was carried over the entire landmass of Elliott Key (± 700m).
All in all, 25 000 homes, 8 000 businesses and 15 000 boats were lost to Hurricane Andrew. Even zoo animals were killed or pushed out of their homes. There was extensive reef damage and crop losses to the tune of approximately $1 billion.
It took only 4 hours for Andrew to clear Florida and reach the Gulf of Mexico. Once there, it continued on to Louisiana, but, by that time, it had lost considerable strength.
Still, it spawned several tornadoes and retained hurricane status until 26 August, when it was downgraded to a tropical storm.
In the Bahamas and in South Florida, the storm was responsible for the deaths of 26 people and an estimated $35 billion in property damage.
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