Hurricane Andrew Research Paper
Harry A. Evans
EMDG 502
Hurricane Andrew
Brett Hicks
On August 24, 1992 Hurricane Andrew slammed into the South Florida, devastating Homestead, Florida City and parts of Miami, then continued northwest across the Gulf of Mexico to strike Louisiana coastline. In all, the storm caused 15 deaths directly, 25 deaths indirectly and $30 billion in property damage, making it the costliest disaster in U.S. History. More than 250,000 people were left homeless; 82,000 businesses were destroyed or damaged; about 100,000 residents of South Dade County permanently left eh area in Andrew’s wake. Andrew also had a serve impact on the environment it damaged 33 percent of the coral reefs at Biscayne National Park, and 90 percent of South Dade’s hammocks. …show more content…
Andrew started as a tropical wave from Africa, which spawned a tropical depression, which then became Tropical Storm Andrew the next day. The storm actually almost dissipated on August 20, but then when it was midway between Bermuda and Puerto Rico, it began turning westward into a much more favorable environment. Andrew made landfall twice while it was moving through the Bahamas. The storm then was made weakened after it made landfall the second time. It maintained strong winds though and the pressure kept rising. However while it was crossing the Gulf Stream, it gained strength quickly and became a category 5 hurricane briefly while it made landfall over South Florida on August 24, with the pressure being at 922 mbar and wind speeds of 165 miles per hour. Hurricane Andrew then continued in the westward direction, towards the Gulf of Mexico, as a Category 4 hurricane, where it then gradually turned north. This brought the hurricane to central Louisiana’s coast on August 26th, by then though it was only a Category 3. It then turned north east and merged with a front system over the Mid Atlantic …show more content…
One team recalls their work area as a “War Zone” these are the words that described our home for the next eight days. The few trees left standing were shredded. There were no birds. Nothing was green. Debris was everywhere. Even chain link fences were knocked down. Armed soldiers directed traffic and patrolled our area. Our team was to relieve Fort Wayne, Indiana, DMAT. They had been operating a medical emergency facility in the Government Center building for the past week. We structured our treatment area based on the incident command system. The operations function was patient treatment rather than fire fighting. Andrew left a path of unprecedented destruction in south Florida, disrupting normal means of communication. Battery operated radios could be tuned to stations that escaped the storm’s wrath, but for most residents of the disaster are, traditional methods of receiving news, such as TV, and newspapers, were not available. Power outages cut off the electronic media in homes that otherwise were undamaged. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was faced with a real challenge in getting information to disaster
EMDG 502
Hurricane Andrew
Brett Hicks
On August 24, 1992 Hurricane Andrew slammed into the South Florida, devastating Homestead, Florida City and parts of Miami, then continued northwest across the Gulf of Mexico to strike Louisiana coastline. In all, the storm caused 15 deaths directly, 25 deaths indirectly and $30 billion in property damage, making it the costliest disaster in U.S. History. More than 250,000 people were left homeless; 82,000 businesses were destroyed or damaged; about 100,000 residents of South Dade County permanently left eh area in Andrew’s wake. Andrew also had a serve impact on the environment it damaged 33 percent of the coral reefs at Biscayne National Park, and 90 percent of South Dade’s hammocks. …show more content…
Andrew started as a tropical wave from Africa, which spawned a tropical depression, which then became Tropical Storm Andrew the next day. The storm actually almost dissipated on August 20, but then when it was midway between Bermuda and Puerto Rico, it began turning westward into a much more favorable environment. Andrew made landfall twice while it was moving through the Bahamas. The storm then was made weakened after it made landfall the second time. It maintained strong winds though and the pressure kept rising. However while it was crossing the Gulf Stream, it gained strength quickly and became a category 5 hurricane briefly while it made landfall over South Florida on August 24, with the pressure being at 922 mbar and wind speeds of 165 miles per hour. Hurricane Andrew then continued in the westward direction, towards the Gulf of Mexico, as a Category 4 hurricane, where it then gradually turned north. This brought the hurricane to central Louisiana’s coast on August 26th, by then though it was only a Category 3. It then turned north east and merged with a front system over the Mid Atlantic …show more content…
One team recalls their work area as a “War Zone” these are the words that described our home for the next eight days. The few trees left standing were shredded. There were no birds. Nothing was green. Debris was everywhere. Even chain link fences were knocked down. Armed soldiers directed traffic and patrolled our area. Our team was to relieve Fort Wayne, Indiana, DMAT. They had been operating a medical emergency facility in the Government Center building for the past week. We structured our treatment area based on the incident command system. The operations function was patient treatment rather than fire fighting. Andrew left a path of unprecedented destruction in south Florida, disrupting normal means of communication. Battery operated radios could be tuned to stations that escaped the storm’s wrath, but for most residents of the disaster are, traditional methods of receiving news, such as TV, and newspapers, were not available. Power outages cut off the electronic media in homes that otherwise were undamaged. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) was faced with a real challenge in getting information to disaster