Hurricane Andrew, 30 Years Later: "I saw my city destroyed before my very eyes"
MIAMI - Thirty years ago this week on August 24th, 1992 Hurricane Andrew cut like a buzz saw through South Miami-Dade County.
Major portions of Florida City and Homestead were reduced to rubble. The stench of wet drywall, and dead vegetation percolated in the August heat.
"I saw my city destroyed before my very eyes," Florida City Mayor Otis Wallace remembers.
"We lost roughly 60% of our tax base in a period of 4 1/2 hours," said Wallace, Mayor of Florida City, who can now take a longer view of that day 30 years ago.
"We had some instant 'urban renewal' there were places that need to go, not the people, but the structures were antiquated and need to go and Andrew took care of a lot of that."
Andrew was not alone in making change in South Dade. The agricultural economy was vulnerable. The North American Free Trade Agreement put in place after Andrew put South Dade farmers in direct competition with Mexico and Central American Countries that could grow and ship produce at a much lower cost.
The growers were getting priced out of the market. Some turned to growing ornamental crops. Others made a tough decision.
Homestead Mayor Steve Losner said, "Those farmers decided it was no longer economically to farm so let sell to someone who grew homes."
And developers swept in, homes "did grow." Hundreds of family homes went up as land-starved developers gobbled up once rich farmland.
Those homes, condos, apartments quickly purchased or rented by individuals and families who as Mayor Wallace put it, "saw opportunities to get a house here they could not get somewhere else."
The high cost of living in the urban Miami area forced people, despite the drive to locate in South Dade.
The population influx has brought Baptist Health Hospital Homestead, though controversial, improved public transportation connecting South Miami-Dade to Urban Miami, a restored downtown Homestead, Historic Seminole Theater, New City Hall a number of Hotels to serve the tourist economy, and the Homestead-Miami Speedway.
Yet one disappointment. Hurricane Andrew all but blew away Homestead Air Force Base and over 7,000 jobs, now reconfigured as Homestead Air Reserve base.
Millions invested in the restoration, but Mayor Losner describes the reality: "In terms of local economy impact and number of folks out there, it doesn't begin to compare with what we had pre-Andrew."