Hurricane Andrew was such a powerful storm, that no one today will forget the damage it caused and lives it claimed. He earned a spot in the record books as the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history (Doyle 18). Hurricane Andrew demonstrates the fury that mother nature can unleash upon man. However, his speedy development and high speeds are still a mystery to meteorologists today.
This violent storm was born on 17 August 1992. Andrew was a result of a tropical wave which moved off the west coast of Africa and passed south of the Cape Verde Islands. It moved uneventfully west northwestward across the Atlantic while significant changes occurred in the large-scale environment of Andrew on 21 August as a deep high pressure center developed over the southeastern U.S. (2). In response to the much more favorable environment, Tropical Storm Andrew strengthened rapidly and turned westward (3). Andrew became a hurricane on 22 August and strengthened to a strong category 4 hurricane the next day (Longshore 452). .
Not only was Andrew's violent destruction record breaking, but his size was the same. He had an amazing 10 foot. wide eye (Digner 6). The storm surge he produced was an astonishing 16.9 feet high (2). His sophistication was like no other. This hurricane knew what his mission was, and he was completely positive that he accomplished it. He wasted no time in his development. His brief status of becoming a category 5 just east of Eluthera island came as no surprise to most (3). No one knew exactly where he was headed until 25 August 1992. This is when true devastation took place.
Andrew's fury was especially felt in Florida where he took twenty-three lives (Kole 3). He also caused an estimated $28 million in damage (Hurricane Andrew Hits South Florida, Louisiana). While he was in Florida, he destroyed 10,000 acres of nurseries, and ruined 100,000 homes (Kole 3). After the storm hit Florida, 7,500 families were left homeless, 14% of Miami-Dade residents were temporarily unemployed, and one week after, 300,000 were still without power (Lee 7).
