Hurricane Andrew was a powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged or destroyed, and was the costliest in financial terms until Hurricane Irma surpassed it 25 years later. In total, Andrew destroyed more than 63,500 houses, damaged more than 124,000 others, caused USD 27.3 billion in damage, and left 65 people dead.
About Hurricane Andrew in brief
Hurricane Andrew was a powerful and destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that struck the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana in August 1992. It is the most destructive hurricane to ever hit Florida in terms of structures damaged or destroyed, and was the costliest in financial terms until Hurricane Irma surpassed it 25 years later. Andrew is one of only four hurricanes to make landfall in the United States as a Category 5, alongside the 1935 Labor Day hurricane, 1969’s Camille, and 2018’s Michael. In total, Andrew destroyed more than 63,500 houses, damaged more than 124,000 others, caused USD 27.3 billion in damage, and left 65 people dead. The hurricane is the third-strongest hurricane to hit the U.S. mainland by wind speed. A tropical wave off the west coast of Africa moved westward towards the coast of the S. Africa coast on August 26. It then weakened to a tropical depression before moving ashore near Morgan City, Louisiana, as a low-end Category 3 storm. After moving inland, the small hurricane curved northeastward and rapidly lost its intensity, merging with a frontal system over the southern Appalachian Mountains on August 29. Andrew spawned at least 28 tornadoes along the Gulf Coast, especially in Alabama, Georgia, and Mississippi. It caused the deaths of at least 6,000 people in the state, most of whom drowned offshore. The storm is currently the seventh-costliest Atlantic hurricane hit the United United States, behind only Sandy, Ike, Sandy, Harvey, Irma and Maria, as well as the aforementioned systems and Wilma.
It is also the eighth-highest-cost hurricane in the Atlantic, behind Hurricane Katrina, Wilma, Ike, Harvey, and Hurricane Maria. It was the strongest landfalling hurricane in decades, until it was surpassed by Katrina in 2005. Andrew caused major damage in the Bahamas and Louisiana, but the greatest impact was felt in South Florida, where the storm made landfall as aCategory 5 hurricane, with 1-minute sustained wind speeds as high as 165 mph. In Florida, Andrew killed 44 and left a record USD 25 billion in damage. It produced hurricane-force winds along its path through Louisiana, damaging large stretches of power lines that left about 230,000 people without electricity. Over 80% of trees in the Atchafalaya River basin were downed, and the agriculture there was devastated. Throughout the basin and Bayou Lafourche, 187 million freshwater fish were killed in the hurricane. Andrew also caused extensive damage to oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, leading to USD 500 million in losses for oil companies. Andrew was the sixth most-intense hurricane to strike the US, with a barometric pressure of 922 mbar at the time of landfall in Florida. It also caused USD 1.5 billion in property losses in Louisiana, with 23,000 houses damaged, 985 other homes demolished, and 1,951 mobile homes demolished.
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This page is based on the article Hurricane Andrew published in Wikipedia (as of Dec. 05, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
