Twenty-six years ago, on August 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall near Homestead, Florida. This Category 5 storm wrought unprecedented damage, at least in terms of inflation-adjusted monetary values, in South Florida.
Forming from a tropical wave, which exited the African coast near the Cape Verde Islands, as Andrew continued to move northwest and then westward, the storm intensified slowly at first, then rapidly intensified. Just before reaching the Bahamas, Andrew attained Category 5 strength (the highest) on the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. In the following visible satellite image, Andrew is seen near peak strength approaching the Bahamas.
-Visible Satellite Image of Hurricane Andrew on August 23, 1992 at 1231 UTC (NOAA)
Undergoing some minor fluctuations in intensity, as strong hurricanes often do during so-called "eyewall replacement cycles," Andrew dipped to Category 4 strength for a time while crossing the Bahamas. Upon initial reports and reviews of the storm in the early 1990s, it was thought that Andrew had maintained this Cat 4 strength upon landfall near Homestead, Florida. However in a more recent 2004 study, Andrew was actually found to have had regained Cat 5 strength right upon landfall near Homestead, Florida in the early morning hours of August 24. The radar picture seen here is the last frame from the WSR-57 radar at the National Hurricane Center in Miami before it was destroyed by the high winds.
-Hurricane Andrew Making Landfall in FL as Seen by the Miami WSR-57 Radar (NHC)
In the case of Andrew, it was these high winds of 160+ mph at landfall near Homestead, FL that did the most damage. Winds this strong produced tornado-like phenomena such as objects being impaled into tree trunks. Andrew's winds, in such a populated area, wrought extensive property damage with estimates of 60,000+ homes destroyed in South Florida, leaving 175,000 homeless, and far more without power in the hot and humid conditions. Andrew would go on to cross Florida, enter the Gulf of Mexico, and make a second landfall over Louisiana on August 26. Damage was less severe in Louisiana.
-Destroyed Mobile Home Community in Dade County, FL in the Aftermath of Andrew, Aug. 24, 1992 (Bob Epstein)
Hurricane Andrew would reign supreme as the costliest hurricane in U.S. history (when adjusted for inflation) for 13 years, until Hurricane Katrina far surpassed Andrew in damages in 2005 across the Gulf Coast. Comparing Andrew and Katrina in the following table, Andrew left $45.5 billion (2010 adjusted) in damages while Katrina closer to $106 billion. Even though Andrew was a stronger storm at landfall compared to Katrina, it was a smaller storm and thus was unable to generate as widespread of a destructive storm surge as Katrina produced. Also, the coastal topography along the Louisiana, Alabama, and Mississippi coasts, along with the failure of the New Orleans levees, only compounded the damage done by Katrina.
-Costliest Hurricanes in U.S. History Adjusted for Inflation in 2010 (NHC)
Of note though, if Andrew had hit just 15 miles to the north, the strongest winds of the eyewall and largest storm surge would have been able to overrun Biscayne Bay, which would have caused significantly more damage in downtown Miami. Thus, even though Andrew brought terrible devastation to South Florida, it could have been even worse.
