Tuesday 4 September 2012

Hurricane Andrew- The damage caused.

From looking at the general overview and facts of Hurricane Andrew I was shocked at the strength of it  compared to that of the most recent and famous ones, such as Katrina, as this hurricane is rarely mentioned compared to those now. Also as this was before my time I was never aware of this even happening until researching the subject. From this I am interested at seeing the damage and destruction caused by Hurricane Andrew after remembering the damage caused by Katrina in New Orleans then comparing this.

geo.arizona.edu
Hurricane Andrew was the third strongest hurricane to hit the United States in the 20th century and the largest to hit Florida in 30 years. Andrew was also the most expensive natural disaster to ever hit the United States. It cost over $25 billion dollars to repair the damages. On it's rampage through the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana it killed 26 people, 15 in Dade County, Florida, and left another 250,000 homeless. In southern Dade county the hurricane destroyed 25,524 homes and damaged 101,241 others. In total, there were approximately 600,000 homes and businesses destroyed or severly damaged by the waves, winds, and rain from Andrew. Over 1.4 million people were left without power and some went with out it for up to six months. It was also estimated that ninety percent of all the mobile homes in South Dade County were totally destroyed and in Homestead, Florida 1167 mobile homes out of the 1176 were destroyed completely. It could have been worse, however, if Hurricane Andrew would have struck 20 miles North in Miami, Florida, a city of 1.9 million people. This would have surely raised the death toll and cost tremendously. 


stormfacts.net
Up until Hurricane Katrina (August 29th, 2005), Andrew was the biggest and most devastating hurricane to ever hit the U.S. 

Andrew made a direct hit on HomesteadFlorida and nearby Florida City (both not too far from Miami). What did the storm leave behind?

  • 28,066 homes were destroyed…

  • 82,000 businesses were destroyed or damaged…

  • 107,380 homes were damaged…

  • 250,000 people were left homeless…

  • 700,000 people were evacuated…

  • 1.4 million homes were left without electricity…

  • Homestead Air Force Base was literally wiped from the map…

  • 1,167 mobile homes were destroyed (Andrew only spared 9 mobile homes in the area!)…






The above photos are very similar to the destruction caused by Hurricane Katrina so this shows that even though defences have taken place in the years between the two hurricanes the damage caused can never be stopped and is something that just comes with the package of a storm. A possible idea to take from this would be to produce an info graphic showing the comparison between the two or even producing an informational pack about the dangers and damage possible.

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