Sunday Marks 22-Years Since Hurricane Andrew Devastated S. Florida
SOUTH MIAMI-DADE (CBSMiami) – Hurricane Andrew slammed into Florida on August 24th, 1992.
The storm changed the landscape of South Florida and the lives of hundreds of thousands of people forever.
Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 on the Saffir Simpson scale, roared through the area in the early morning darkness with a howling wind across South Miami-Dade County.
When dawn broke, the light of day revealed unspeakable destruction.
In South Florida, 165,000 homes were destroyed or heavily damaged leaving 250,000 people were permanently homeless.
Nearly a million customers were left without power.
A billion dollars of agriculture fields were wiped out.
Homestead Air Force Base was also destroyed.
Andrew killed 44 people, 19 directly, and the remainder in post-storm related accidents.
The losses, including the cost of cleanup, approached $30 billion.
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