Memories of Andrew

As the residents of Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, and the surrounding areas in Florida continue to dig themselves out of the damage that Charley left behind, they're contending with heat, humidity, price gouging, and lack of basic services. If you'd like to help out, consider a donation to a charity that's assisting. One example (certainly not the only one) is the Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund.

Hearing about the trouble (and estimated $11 billion dollar repair bill) that Charley brought to Florida, I'm reminded of Hurricane Andrew back in '92. At the time, I lived in Boynton Beach, Florida (about 60 miles north of Miami). When Andrew was brewing halfway around the world, I was on a business trip in Puerto Rico. After a few days, when it looked like Andrew might strike Puerto Rico, I called the plant in Boynton Beach and calmly requested "Get me out of here!" I got out in plenty of time - time enough to get home and board up my windows.

Having lived on the east coast since '88, I was somewhat prepared in that I knew what had to be done. On the flip side, having lived on the east coast since '88, I had adopted a South Floridian's somewhat cavalier attitude. I had to scramble a bit to videotape the house (in case it got totaled - this would help with the insurance company), I was short on plywood, and I didn't have all of the holes drilled. It's best to pre-drill holes in your exterior walls to hang up the plywood. There are metal hurricane shutters, but in South Florida, they're priced pretty high.

At around 5:00 AM local time on August 24th, Andrew slammed into Dade county in all of its Category 5 fury (sustained winds of 165 mph). In Boynton Beach, we were far enough north that we only caught the feeder bands (the "arms" of a hurricane - bands of rain, squalls, and assorted rough weather). The highest winds (gusts in excess of 170 mph - some over 200 mph) were of course very far south of us, but with the wind roaring outside like a freight train (briefly gusting to 90 mph as I recall), I spent the night awake wondering if I staked the trees well enough and if the plywood on the windows would hold.