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Hurricane Andrew was one of the most destructive hurricanes ever to hit the United States. It raged from August 16 to August 28 during the 1992 Atlantic hurricane season, impacting the northwestern Bahamas, southern Florida in the greater Miami area, and south-central Louisiana. Andrew caused $26 billion ($45 billion in 2005 US dollars) in damages (mostly in south Florida) and is the second most expensive hurricane in history (behind Katrina of the 2005 season).
Storm history
Hurricane Andrew at landfall in Florida.
Andrew started modestly as a tropical wave that emerged from the west coast of Africa on August 14. The wave spawned a tropical depression on August 16 which became Tropical Storm Andrew the next day. Further development was slow, as the west-northwestward moving Andrew encountered an unfavorable upper-level trough. Indeed, the storm almost dissipated on August 20 due to vertical wind shear.
By August 21, Andrew was midway between Bermuda and Puerto Rico and turning westward into a more favorable environment. Rapid strengthening occurred, with Andrew reaching hurricane strength (sustained winds greater than 74 mph) on the 22nd and Category 5 status on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale on the 23rd, peaking with 175 mph (280 km/h) winds and a minimum pressure of 922 mbar (hPa) [2]. The storm was extremely small, however, with gale-force (35 mph, 55 km/h) winds extending outwards only 90 miles (150 km) from the center[3].
Infrared image of Andrew landfall
Andrew made landfall twice while moving through the Bahamas, crossing Eleuthera with 160 mph (260 km/h) winds and passing through the Berry Islands at Great Harbour Cay with sustained winds of 150 mph (240 km/h). The storm weakened after its second landfall, maintaining strong winds but with the pressure rising to 937 mbar. While crossing the Gulf Stream, however, Andrew quickly restrengthened, and briefly regained Category 5 status as it made landfall over south Florida on August 24 with 165 mph (265 km/h) winds and pressure of 922 mbar (hPa).[4]
The hurricane continued westward into the Gulf of Mexico as a Category 4 hurricane, where it gradually turned northward. This motion brought Andrew to the central Louisiana coast (near Morgan City) on August 26 as a Category 3 hurricane with sustained winds near 115mph. Andrew then turned northeastward, eventually merging with a frontal system over the mid-Atlantic states on August 28.
Statistics
Reports from private barometers helped establish that Andrew's central pressure at landfall in Homestead, Florida, was 27.23 inches (922 hPa), which at the time made it the third most intense hurricane on record to hit the United States (it has since fallen to fourth, as of 2005).
Andrew's peak winds in south Florida were not directly measured due to destruction of the measuring instruments. An automated station at Fowey Rocks reported 142 mph (228 km/h) sustained winds with gusts to 200 mph (321 km/h) (measured 144 ft (43.9 m) above the ground), and higher values may have occurred after the station was damaged and stopped reporting. An amateur meteorologist living about a mile from the shoreline recorded a gust at an amazing 212 mph (341 km/h) before his instruments were destroyed.[5]
The National Hurricane Center had a peak gust of 164 mph (272 km/h) (measured 130 ft (39.6 m) above the ground) just before the hurricane crippled its measuring devices, while a 177 mph (285 km/h) gust was measured at a private home. In 2002, as part of an ongoing review of historical hurricane records, National Hurricane Center experts concluded that Andrew briefly had sustained winds of 165 mph (265 km/h) during and before landfall (Andrew had originally been classified as a Category 4 storm at landfall) [6].
Additionally, Berwick, Louisiana, reported 96 mph (154 km/h) sustained winds with gusts to 120 mph (193 km/h).
Records
Andrew was only the third Category 5 hurricane to hit the United States, the previous ones being Hurricane Camille (which hit Mississippi and Louisiana in August 1969) and the Labor Day Hurricane of 1935 (which struck the Florida Keys in September 1935).
Impact
The aftermath of Hurricane Andrew in Florida.
As with most high-intensity storms (Categories 4 and 5), the worst damage from Andrew is thought to have occurred not from straight-line winds but from vortices, or "miniwhirls" (something like embedded tornadoes). This was the conclusion of Tetsuya Theodore Fujita, a University of Chicago meteorologist who devised the Fujita scale for measuring the strength of tornadoes, after he surveyed Andrew's destruction in the Homestead area. There were thousands of these vortexes in Andrew; many of them could be traced for several miles, as they usually destroyed every building in their paths.
Andrew produced a 17 ft (5.2 m) storm surge near the landfall point in Florida, while storm tides of at least eight ft (2.4 m) inundated portions of the Louisiana coast. Andrew also produced a killer tornado in southeastern Louisiana. Its rainfall graphic is located here.
Andrew was responsible for 23 deaths in the United States and three more in the Bahamas. The hurricane caused $26.5 billion (1992 USD) in damage in the United States, of which $1 billion occurred in Louisiana and the rest in south Florida. Unlike most hurricanes, the vast majority of the damage in Florida was due to the winds. Damage in the Bahamas was estimated at $250 million.
The Turkey Point Nuclear Generating Station was hit directly by Andrew. Over $90 million of damage was done, largely to a water tank and to a smokestack of one of the fossil-fueled units on-site, but the containment buildings were undamaged. The nuclear plant was built to withstand winds of up to 235 mph.
Massive damage caused by Andrew at Homestead Air Force Base, very near the point of landfall on the South Florida coast, led to the closing of the base as a full active-duty base. It was later partly rebuilt and operates today as a U.S. Air Reserve base. The aircraft and squadron were relocated to Aviano AFB in Italy.
Aftermath
Andrew's catastrophic damage spawned many rumors, including claims that hundreds or even thousands of migrant farm workers in south Dade County (now Miami-Dade County) were killed and their deaths were not reported in official accounts. An investigation by the Miami Herald found no basis for such rumors. These rumors were probably based on the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane, when the deaths of migrant workers initially went uncounted, and were still debated at the time of Andrew.
The slow response of federal aid to storm victims in southern Florida led Dade County emergency management director Kate Hale to famously exclaim at a nationally televised news conference, "Where in the hell is the cavalry on this one? They keep saying we're going to get supplies. For God's sake, where are they?" Almost immediately, President George H. W. Bush promised, "Help is on the way," and mobile kitchens and tents began pouring in. [7]
Retirement
The name Andrew was retired in the spring of 1993 and will never again be used for an Atlantic hurricane. It was replaced with Alex in the 1998 season.
See also
External links
References
- Modified after the National Hurricane Center web site. This U.S. government site is in the public domain.
- ^ NHC report on Andrew (December 1993)
- ^ NOAA press release (August 2002)
- ^ NOAA Hurricane FAQ: Question C3
- ^ Andrew "Best Track", human-readible form
- ^ St. Petersburg Times article (August 2002)
The content of this page is retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Andrew under GFDL
