23 years ago last week Hurricane Andrew hit S. Fla. Pics of the damage to my parents house
It's been 23 years since that storm came ashore. I found some pictures my dad took the day after that I thought some of you might be interested in.
This house is located in the Kendall area of the Miami metroplex. It is about 13 miles north of where the eye of the storm came ashore in Homestead.
The exterior shots go around the house in a clockwise direction.
The front of the house, looking toward the front door, taken from the driveway, right in front of the garage. This was an "Umbrella Tree ( Schefflera actinophylla I believe) that had stood since the early 60's.
Same subject, just backed up a bit. The house was shaped like an "L" with the foot of the L being the "Florida Room" which is the space behind the two windows. That section originally had a flat roof and my dad put a peaked roof on it, completely up to code at the time. It was ripped off and disintegrated. You can see the bare plywood on the older section of roof where the two met.
Further down that same side, showing the two garage doors and the RV trailer mom and dad had. Note the rain gutter downspout UNDER the wood, at the top of the wall. They were 2X10's, 2 of them bolted together forming a solid beam that were bolted to the top of the concrete and brick wall. When the roof went, it picked those up and the aluminum downspout got caught under them as they came back down. The forces required to do such a thing are mind boggling.
Around the corner now, to the side of the garage. The trailer was driven about a foot or so forward and the front legs about 6 inches into the ground. The patio/pool area is at the right of the frame. It had a complete screen enclosure which was destroyed. The grayish object at the right of the frame is a concrete clothesline post that had been there since the house was built in the late 50's.
Detail of the back sliding glass door exit to the pool. Note the "Hurricane Straps" - heavy gauge galvanized straps that went over the frame and were bolted to the eve. They point in the general direction the roof took as it was torn away. Aluminum extrusions from the screen enclosure are apparent. Also, note the hanging wind chime, whole, undamaged and still in place.
The camera turned to the right from roughly the same spot, looking across the back yard. The collapsed screen enclosure and the pool pumps and filter are visible and what's left of the roof can be seen in shreds against the back fence in the distance. Note the virtually denuded Slash Pine tree.
Snapped Slash Pine in the front, side yard. Photo was taken from roughly the same spot as the previous, just 180 degrees around.
The backyard shed, blown over and off its concrete pad, which is visible at the bottom left. There is a fairly new John Deere riding lawnmower in there somewhere.
Shot of the shed from inside the fenced backyard. The snapped Pine tree pictured above is in the background.
What's left of the roof, thrown about 200' across the backyard. Much of it landed in the neighbors yard behind, cutting the utility pole as it went.
Further around the backyard now, looking across the street to one of the neighbors homes. The camera position is almost directly opposite the house from the first pic of the series. Note the top pole of the chain link fence that was moved to the right, away from the corner of the house. The window on the end of the building is in what was my bedroom for years.
Detail of the mostly undamaged, older section of the roof. The windows are at the living room of the house.
Looking back into the backyard, showing the same fence as above.
A ceiling fan in the Florida Room that fell after the roof above it was torn away.
And end table/magazine rack that was damaged by the falling fan.
An Ethan Allen coffee table. Mom had acquired quite a few Ethan Allen pieces over the years. 4 or 5 of them were damaged beyond repair. This was shot only the day after and you can clearly see the wood top warping.
My dad, mom, sister, her husband, their daughter and my Boston Terrier rode out the storm in this house, huddled in the hall linen closet, a space no more than 4 X 5 feet. My dad figured that a tornado came through, along with the 100 + MPH sustained winds and that is what took the roof. He likened the sound to what so many say in these situations - "It sounded like a freight train was coming down the hall". My dad was a WW II and Korea vet. In Korea he was a field medic and has seen his share of atrocities. He confided in me that he had never been so scared in his life.
In many ways they were fortunate, compared to so many others that day. At least they still had a functioning roof over a portion of the house. But like everyone else, there was no electricity for a couple weeks.
My dad bought this house in the early 60's after he was stationed in S FL shortly after the Kennedy assassination. We moved away in the mid 60's and came back in 1974 where I lived for the most part through 1987, when I hit the road driving trucks. It had withstood probably 3 other hurricanes over the years, including Donna in 1960 and Betsy in 65.
When Andrew hit South Florida I was in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin at an Indy Car Race at Road America. The following weekend I had to be in Vancouver, BC. When I finally got hold of them after the storm I asked my dad if I should come down. I told them I could fly to Atlanta, rent a truck, fill it with ice and a generator and head down. He told me they were fine and that all would be OK.
As it turned out, I might have gotten the truck, the generator and the ice taken from me, as people were desperate for those exact items for days and there were several reports of similar thefts.
This was an awful long time ago, but it does seem like last week, at times. I felt so terribly helpless being 1200 miles away. I don't wish this sort of tragedy on anyone.
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I remember seeing one of a mobile home park that was literally, and I mean literally...wiped out.
This one;
Some shots of Homestead AFB;
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While Andrew ranks only #4 on the current list of most destructive, it was the costliest and most destructive Hurricane for quite a while afterward. The other thing to keep in mind as well; They name the storms in alphabetical order. Here it was, late August and the first named storm of the season does this.
through Andrew! These pictures are amazing. Thanks for sharing them. Glad to hear your family was not hurt. 
It was a very small and compact storm as far as hurricanes go. Also, weather researchers think it's wind speed actually increased after hitting Florida. Hurricanes typically lose wind speed rapidly after coming ashore, but not Andrew. It only took 4 hours to cross Florida and hit the Gulf with wind speeds of 135mph sustained.
Andrew survivor here. 
We were in NW Dade so didn't get hit as hard. A terrifying experience all the same.
Here I am at the local pier after Fran. (It's all rebuilt now.)
and here's the huge tree..... that is now where the PO is....
Ahhhh.... memories
