I am a survivor along with my baby daughter of Hurricane Andrew. Forever thankful to Mr Brian Norcross who kept me informed and centered as Andrew battered the glass door at the side of my apartment. That baby daughter is now 36 years old.🙏
I survived Andrew as well. Our house was on 152nd Street/89th court, off of Coral Reef Drive. All the homes were destroyed, apartment buildings were razed by tornados. I remember driving back down from Fort Lauderdale the next day, and trying to take the route through the Grove, and that was impassable, because there were boats and yachts IN THE STREET, and the banyan trees were toppled over, and I had to backtrack out and take US1 South. And from Downtown driving south, the farther you got, the less that was left standing. Later we drove to Homestead, Cutler Ridge Mall was in ruins, and looters were taking whatever they could get their hands on. When we got to Homestead, it was a cathartic disaster. Like downtown Homestead had been blown off the map, and all that was left were match sticks in piles all over the place. My parents were in Connecticut, and I surveyed the destroyed house, then drove back north to call them and tell them not to come home, because they did not have a home to come back to. I gave them a list of things to get (food/a generator/CASH/etc. ) and ship on the plane down a few days later, once I secured what was left of our house. ( 1 room ) The rest of the house was water logged and flooded and the roof was in tatters. When they arrived back in Miami, I was at the house waiting for them, and my father got out of the car and fell to his knees and sobbed. We had a 50 foot silver oak tree outside my bedroom window that was pulled up out of the ground and dropped on the house next door, destroying it in one drop. Our patio screening was mangled and dropped unceremoniously into the pool. There was an apartment building behind our house that backed onto US 1, and when the tornado came through it razed the building to the ground, there was nothing left but bricks and cement blocks piled everywhere. My friend Cory's mom lived in that building and she was devastated too. In time my parents got a FEMA trailer to live in while the house was rebuilt. Metro Zoo was destroyed and animals were walking the streets. We slept in cars at the top of the streets with loaded guns to protect from looters, because that was a HUGE problem for a long time. It was living hell for a very long time.
We rode it out under the mattress in Country Walk, I thought we were all dead. I was 22 and boarded the house up with plywood borrowed from an unfinished weitzer home, couldn't get it anywhere else. The home we borrowed it from was leveled to the slab. 30 years later and none of us who went through this from homestead to 152 will never forget it. I am in Deland now and pray we never go through this again. President Bush came 2 weeks later and FEMA totally dropped the ball. It was like Hiroshima. Combat vets never saw this in any bombing campaign. It was a 3 hour tornado and terrible. Miraculous that thousands didn't die.
My mom visited Florida and the Keys when the hurrican alert broke loose. she said this was the weirdest experiencd ever, since we dont have this in Europe. People were so helpful and nice in the states. they told her it woulc probably not hit homestead but she decided never the less to leave and drive up into the country. the drive was horrible she said bc of the rain and strong winds. later on she saw on tv the places she had seen that were devastated… she hopes even today that everyone who she talked to and lived in the area that was hit is fine. so yeah when she told me about this as a kid i imagined the worst and i am happy to have seen this report on it. thank you
I was 13, in Westchester, Coral Way and 87th. We didn't get electricity back for about five or six weeks. It was so hot inside the house. My brothers and I would crawl out the window of my bedroom, to sleep on the roof of the garage. The day after Andrew hit, there was no electricity anywhere. I remember looking up at the sky, and without the lights from the city, the sky was nothing but stars! For some reason, that is what I will always remember.
I was 5 years old and I still remember the noise that came from outside as I sat in the bathtub with my family all around me in the dark bathroom .I can close my eyes and still hear it.. even after all this time
Andrew was like a giant buzzsaw just think a Cat 5 hurricane with 165 mph winds is hitting your home from all sides along with f2 and f3 tornados mixed in it was a nightmare
My family lived in Key West when Hurricane Andrews came through. My husband had been sent to Jacksonville, the only time he was sent anywhere. This was my husbands last duty station before he retired from the US Navy. My granddaughter was born in Key West in March of 1992, so I was in Key West with my daughter 2 sons and newborn granddaughter. We were told Key West was gonna be hit hard, but it turned out we just lost power and had wind damage. My husband came home when it was over and we went to Homestead with our church and I could not believe what my eyes were telling me. People came together and our church in Homestead was a service center for food, clothing, and men went out to rebuild roofs. However, there were people who came down from northern FL and GA to sell water to the victims, SELL WATER, and others came to help with ice, and water and they were told by FEMA to sit in the parking lot. The ice was melting and no on benefited from the generous gift. It was neighbor helping neighbor. I learned that the good people who had nothing gave what they could even if it was all they had and others tried to take advantaged of the residents, even looting. I also learned there were very generous people who gifted so many. A television show can never show the devastation a hurricane leaves behind, but I saw it and now I watch from tv hurricane Helene and now hurricane Milton. My last name is Andrews.
wonderful documentary, especially for those of us that were here in South Florida during Andrew. I remember the front page of The Miami Herald the day before : "The Big One". Says it all.
Thank you Brian I survived Andrew I lived in homestead by Harris Field and I will definitely never forget what I went tru me and my family even lived with the army set up that they had stationed for the families in Harris field this documentary brought back a lot of memories and tears but thank you
The older couples story was amazing and the recording was pure horror you could hear as their house was falling apart all around them and they still had a long way to go their lucky to be alive
They were in a previous documentary that can also be found if you look up Hurricane Andrew. I think it was from 2012 but I do wonder what happened to the husband of the couple since he looked more healthier then than he does now. Their story is incredible!
I was a insurance adjuster for Andrew, spent 4 months spending insurance companies money and had 13 insurance companies go broke in the deal. The state of Florida still owes me for working those claims, $10K ! Lying SOBs!
I was 18 years old and in the US Navy when the Storm hit South Florida, my ship was in Guantanamo Bay Cuba for training purposes, they loaded us up with all kinds of supplies, tarps/ generators/ water buffalos/ tents/ MRE"s, ropes/ medical kits, Lumber all kinds of stuff and we sailed, first stopping in Eleuthera and dropping off supplies and myself and the crew rebuilt a school which took like 8 hours, then it was on to Miami, docked in Port of Miami, immediately started offloading supplies, next morning my Mom and some family members came to the port, went home and spent the day, they lived in North dade and was not badly affected, next day maybe 300 crew members we all got bussed down to homestead to assist with clean up and setting up tents, generators and handing out food and water, we cleaned up homestead senior high school, ripping out water damaged carpet/ furniture all sorts of stuff, I remember the devastation, looked like a war zone down there, it was hot and humid and there was smell of dead animals around, there was a dusk to dawn curfew in effect for all of Miami dade county, its true the aid was slow in getting there, remember people with signs everywhere "President Bush please help us" after that FEMA was born.
Been there done that. I was living in a 10-story apartment building right across from the Dade Land Mall Just off of Kendel Ave. I think the address was 9125 SW 77th Street. I tried to Google Earth but can't find it. Anyway, the damage was not as severe as Homestead. Mostly up-routed trees and a church down the road was totally destroyed. Don't get me wrong it was never the less devastating. On the morning of the 24th, we went for a walk to look at all the devastation along AI. I stumbled across an American flag that was on the ground . It was from a KFC restaurant which was totally destroyed. And so I picked it up and still have it to this day.
The damage from Hurricane Andrew was unbelievable. Seeing what it did to the Zinn family's cement block house, it easily looks like 250 mph sustained winds with gusts even topping 315 mph.
Most buildings built before 1940 are still standing. Amazing how these storms are stronger nowadays but with little craftsmanship. Nobody builds good quality anymore
Oh have things changed from this. We should go back to those landlines they were pretty good. Folks calling up the news channel during the hurricane that's pretty damn good we can't even get our 5G smartphones to work they're not too smart turn hurricane in which was a cat-5 as well none of our smartphones worked
Can I ask why they have a Zoo? And if you can't get a mongoose why can you have Cobras? It's how the Everglades has a Python problem. A couple of snakes and a hurricane. Get an aquarium. I just saw this on TV, and if it was frightening for the humans imagine what it was like for animals that have the intelligence of a 3 year old child. Speaks volumes about what kind of people you are.
It’s been 32 years exactly since Hurricane Andrew has struck South Florida as I post this reply. I’m really curious how many more years will pass before another Catastrophic Category 4 or 5 impacts that region of the state. It’s been longer since Andrew struck their area than the time that elapsed between Hurricane Betsy and when Andrew eventually struck.
Katrina hit a city that was already under the water table. Then the governor (Blanco) of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans were clueless about what to do before and after the storm. Democrats in Washington D.C. used to it gain more "victims" and the media used it to bash the Republicans. Andrew got taken care of by competent state. There was not any drama to sell in the following years.
Katrina was most notable for the levee breaches in New Orleans. Andrew was the most perfectly destructive hurricane. It destroyed a huge area of south Florida. It had been 20 years or so since anything that bad had happened. It was widely believed that President Bush 41, lost the election because of the terrible Federal response to Andrew.
My bf lived in homestead at the time. He was 9 he rode it out with his family. He remembered how loud it was and the damage done. He still kinda freaks out when a hurricane is on the way. I lived in Ocala. You couldn't tell that 200 y miles away a city was getting torn up. My mom is from homestead area too so we were watching.
I want to thank Brian Norcross for making this documentary. Brought tears to my eyes
I am a survivor along with my baby daughter of Hurricane Andrew. Forever thankful to Mr Brian Norcross who kept me informed and centered as Andrew battered the glass door at the side of my apartment. That baby daughter is now 36 years old.🙏
I survived Andrew as well. Our house was on 152nd Street/89th court, off of Coral Reef Drive. All the homes were destroyed, apartment buildings were razed by tornados. I remember driving back down from Fort Lauderdale the next day, and trying to take the route through the Grove, and that was impassable, because there were boats and yachts IN THE STREET, and the banyan trees were toppled over, and I had to backtrack out and take US1 South. And from Downtown driving south, the farther you got, the less that was left standing. Later we drove to Homestead, Cutler Ridge Mall was in ruins, and looters were taking whatever they could get their hands on. When we got to Homestead, it was a cathartic disaster. Like downtown Homestead had been blown off the map, and all that was left were match sticks in piles all over the place. My parents were in Connecticut, and I surveyed the destroyed house, then drove back north to call them and tell them not to come home, because they did not have a home to come back to. I gave them a list of things to get (food/a generator/CASH/etc. ) and ship on the plane down a few days later, once I secured what was left of our house. ( 1 room ) The rest of the house was water logged and flooded and the roof was in tatters. When they arrived back in Miami, I was at the house waiting for them, and my father got out of the car and fell to his knees and sobbed. We had a 50 foot silver oak tree outside my bedroom window that was pulled up out of the ground and dropped on the house next door, destroying it in one drop. Our patio screening was mangled and dropped unceremoniously into the pool. There was an apartment building behind our house that backed onto US 1, and when the tornado came through it razed the building to the ground, there was nothing left but bricks and cement blocks piled everywhere. My friend Cory's mom lived in that building and she was devastated too. In time my parents got a FEMA trailer to live in while the house was rebuilt. Metro Zoo was destroyed and animals were walking the streets. We slept in cars at the top of the streets with loaded guns to protect from looters, because that was a HUGE problem for a long time. It was living hell for a very long time.
We rode it out under the mattress in Country Walk, I thought we were all dead. I was 22 and boarded the house up with plywood borrowed from an unfinished weitzer home, couldn't get it anywhere else. The home we borrowed it from was leveled to the slab. 30 years later and none of us who went through this from homestead to 152 will never forget it. I am in Deland now and pray we never go through this again. President Bush came 2 weeks later and FEMA totally dropped the ball. It was like Hiroshima. Combat vets never saw this in any bombing campaign. It was a 3 hour tornado and terrible. Miraculous that thousands didn't die.
My mom visited Florida and the Keys when the hurrican alert broke loose. she said this was the weirdest experiencd ever, since we dont have this in Europe. People were so helpful and nice in the states. they told her it woulc probably not hit homestead but she decided never the less to leave and drive up into the country. the drive was horrible she said bc of the rain and strong winds. later on she saw on tv the places she had seen that were devastated… she hopes even today that everyone who she talked to and lived in the area that was hit is fine. so yeah when she told me about this as a kid i imagined the worst and i am happy to have seen this report on it. thank you
Bryan Norcross will have a place in our hearts forever.
I was 9 years old when Hurricane Andrew rolled in. Probably the wildest, scariest night I'd gone through at the time.
I was 13, in Westchester, Coral Way and 87th. We didn't get electricity back for about five or six weeks. It was so hot inside the house. My brothers and I would crawl out the window of my bedroom, to sleep on the roof of the garage.
The day after Andrew hit, there was no electricity anywhere. I remember looking up at the sky, and without the lights from the city, the sky was nothing but stars! For some reason, that is what I will always remember.
I was 10 in cutler ridge. Evacuated to a family friends house near the zoo. That house got hit worse than ours. Wont ever forget that night
My daughter was born at Homestead AFB, Andrew was a monster,
I was 5 years old and I still remember the noise that came from outside as I sat in the bathtub with my family all around me in the dark bathroom .I can close my eyes and still hear it.. even after all this time
@@dianav8469 I was 5 too and I remember most of it. We went to Pine Lake elementary and lived down the street from Piper Lanes in Perrine.
Andrew was like a giant buzzsaw just think a Cat 5 hurricane with 165 mph winds is hitting your home from all sides along with f2 and f3 tornados mixed in it was a nightmare
My family lived in Key West when Hurricane Andrews came through. My husband had been sent to Jacksonville, the only time he was sent anywhere. This was my husbands last duty station before he retired from the US Navy. My granddaughter was born in Key West in March of 1992, so I was in Key West with my daughter 2 sons and newborn granddaughter. We were told Key West was gonna be hit hard, but it turned out we just lost power and had wind damage. My husband came home when it was over and we went to Homestead with our church and I could not believe what my eyes were telling me. People came together and our church in Homestead was a service center for food, clothing, and men went out to rebuild roofs. However, there were people who came down from northern FL and GA to sell water to the victims, SELL WATER, and others came to help with ice, and water and they were told by FEMA to sit in the parking lot. The ice was melting and no on benefited from the generous gift. It was neighbor helping neighbor. I learned that the good people who had nothing gave what they could even if it was all they had and others tried to take advantaged of the residents, even looting. I also learned there were very generous people who gifted so many. A television show can never show the devastation a hurricane leaves behind, but I saw it and now I watch from tv hurricane Helene and now hurricane Milton. My last name is Andrews.
I'm 59 now and I'll never forget that night or you Brian, Thank you sir.
wonderful documentary, especially for those of us that were here in South Florida during Andrew. I remember the front page of The Miami Herald the day before : "The Big One". Says it all.
Luckily, I was living in NYC during this. I was born and raised in Miami.
While I know sandy was freaking out, I admire how calmly she reassured her kids. What a strong momma!
Super interesting video. Well done.
Thank you Brian I survived Andrew I lived in homestead by Harris Field and I will definitely never forget what I went tru me and my family even lived with the army set up that they had stationed for the families in Harris field this documentary brought back a lot of memories and tears but thank you
The older couples story was amazing and the recording was pure horror you could hear as their house was falling apart all around them and they still had a long way to go their lucky to be alive
They were in a previous documentary that can also be found if you look up Hurricane Andrew. I think it was from 2012 but I do wonder what happened to the husband of the couple since he looked more healthier then than he does now. Their story is incredible!
I was a insurance adjuster for Andrew, spent 4 months spending insurance companies money and had 13 insurance companies go broke in the deal. The state of Florida still owes me for working those claims, $10K ! Lying SOBs!
I was 18 years old and in the US Navy when the Storm hit South Florida, my ship was in Guantanamo Bay Cuba for training purposes, they loaded us up with all kinds of supplies, tarps/ generators/ water buffalos/ tents/ MRE"s, ropes/ medical kits, Lumber all kinds of stuff and we sailed, first stopping in Eleuthera and dropping off supplies and myself and the crew rebuilt a school which took like 8 hours, then it was on to Miami, docked in Port of Miami, immediately started offloading supplies, next morning my Mom and some family members came to the port, went home and spent the day, they lived in North dade and was not badly affected, next day maybe 300 crew members we all got bussed down to homestead to assist with clean up and setting up tents, generators and handing out food and water, we cleaned up homestead senior high school, ripping out water damaged carpet/ furniture all sorts of stuff, I remember the devastation, looked like a war zone down there, it was hot and humid and there was smell of dead animals around, there was a dusk to dawn curfew in effect for all of Miami dade county, its true the aid was slow in getting there, remember people with signs everywhere "President Bush please help us" after that FEMA was born.
I WAS YOUNG, IN ALABAMA!
I wasn't in south Florida for Andrew but I was in Jamaica in 1988 for hurricane Gilbert simple monster storm..
Why do so many of these Anchors look like they spend all day rolling in a bath full of Doritos? 🤔
I was 10
Years old when that went through Miami
Been there done that. I was living in a 10-story apartment building right across from the Dade Land Mall
Just off of Kendel Ave.
I think the address was 9125 SW 77th Street. I tried to Google Earth but can't find it.
Anyway, the damage was not as severe as Homestead. Mostly up-routed trees and a church down the road was totally destroyed. Don't get me wrong it was never the less devastating.
On the morning of the 24th, we went for a walk to look at all the devastation along AI.
I stumbled across an American flag that was on the ground . It was from a KFC restaurant
which was totally destroyed. And so I picked it up and still have it to this day.
Yooo, that's sick. Nice little memento there.
The damage from Hurricane Andrew was unbelievable. Seeing what it did to the Zinn family's cement block house, it easily looks like 250 mph sustained winds with gusts even topping 315 mph.
No maybe sustained 155 to 160 gusts to 200.
Most buildings built before 1940 are still standing. Amazing how these storms are stronger nowadays but with little craftsmanship. Nobody builds good quality anymore
Watching as Hurricane Milton is making landfall and yikes I hope they make out better than this.
Nobody wants nature to flourish. Let's protect the environment together
Oh have things changed from this. We should go back to those landlines they were pretty good. Folks calling up the news channel during the hurricane that's pretty damn good we can't even get our 5G smartphones to work they're not too smart turn hurricane in which was a cat-5 as well none of our smartphones worked
the wraith of hurricane Andrew
Why Ron is talking in this video like he’s a meteorologist?!🤷🏻♀️
Can I ask why they have a Zoo? And if you can't get a mongoose why can you have Cobras? It's how the Everglades has a Python problem. A couple of snakes and a hurricane. Get an aquarium. I just saw this on TV, and if it was frightening for the humans imagine what it was like for animals that have the intelligence of a 3 year old child. Speaks volumes about what kind of people you are.
It’s been 32 years exactly since Hurricane Andrew has struck South Florida as I post this reply. I’m really curious how many more years will pass before another Catastrophic Category 4 or 5 impacts that region of the state. It’s been longer since Andrew struck their area than the time that elapsed between Hurricane Betsy and when Andrew eventually struck.
I was only 2
It’s not the hurricane. It’s the people that come afterwards. You Loot we Pew.
How does this compare to Katrina
Katrina hit a city that was already under the water table. Then the governor (Blanco) of Louisiana and the mayor of New Orleans were clueless about what to do before and after the storm. Democrats in Washington D.C. used to it gain more "victims" and the media used it to bash the Republicans. Andrew got taken care of by competent state. There was not any drama to sell in the following years.
Katrina was most notable for the levee breaches in New Orleans. Andrew was the most perfectly destructive hurricane. It destroyed a huge area of south Florida. It had been 20 years or so since anything that bad had happened. It was widely believed that President Bush 41, lost the election because of the terrible Federal response to Andrew.
@cg9612 his "Read My Lips" comment back in 1988 aged poorly too.
My bf lived in homestead at the time. He was 9 he rode it out with his family. He remembered how loud it was and the damage done. He still kinda freaks out when a hurricane is on the way. I lived in Ocala. You couldn't tell that 200 y miles away a city was getting torn up. My mom is from homestead area too so we were watching.
We had cellular phones, but not e everyone did.
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