Hurricane Andrew (Miami, Hialeah, Kendall: insurance, mattresses, houses)

[MiamiRob]

Today is the 18th. Anniversary of when Hurricane Andrew blew into our beloved metro and wiped out almost half of Miami Dade county.
I was living in west Kendall at the time but is was such a surreal expereince!
Any Memories to share?

[somebodymiami]

was at Hialeah hospital exactly 1 week old lol

[rebsosaurus]

no electricity or a/c for nearly a month, lost my favorite tree, had some crazy relatives stay with us, watched dad's creepy coworker feed an iguana some booze and then bury it in a dirt hole once it died of severe intoxication. i was 12.

oh, that and everyone's house was nearly destroyed in homestead and other parts of miami dade county. tons of my friends lost their homes, heavy stuff. not a fun time to remember.

[rogerbacon]

I remember walking out of the house I had lived in for 18 years, walking three blocks down the street, turning around and not recognizing where I was. The nighborhood looked THAT different with all of the trees gone. I'll never forget that feeling. Then spending two months without electricity. I lived on Lake Whispering Pines at the time.
Two years after the hurricane the neighborhood had completely changed. A lot of people took their insurance money and left and a lower class of people moved in. As of a few months ago ther was STILL one house on the lake (vacent lot now) that had not been rebuilt. Amazing.

[rebsosaurus]

Originally Posted by rogerbacon

I remember walking out of the house I had lived in for 18 years, walking three blocks down the street, turning around and not recognizing where I was. The nighborhood looked THAT different with all of the trees gone. I'll never forget that feeling. Then spending two months without electricity. I lived on Lake Whispering Pines at the time.
Two years after the hurricane the neighborhood had completely changed. A lot of people took their insurance money and left and a lower class of people moved in. As of a few months ago ther was STILL one house on the lake (vacent lot now) that had not been rebuilt. Amazing.

lower class of people...interesting.

[rogerbacon]

Originally Posted by rebsosaurus

lower class of people...interesting.

Based on my observation about how the yards were not taken care of as well as before. Don't read too much in to one sentence.

In addition to the worse-kept yards, the people moving in were also mroe likely to be lower-income since prices dropped quite a bit after the hurricane. I'm not equating class to income though as I know they can be different. I'm making that as second observation.

[flyers29]

I was only a little kid at the time, but a combination of what I remember/what I was told:
-National Guard troops and Hummers going up and down our street every day since they were camped out a few blocks away
-Neighbors taking turns standing watch with guns to prevent looting
-My aunt having to bribe the National Guard troop with ice so he would let us back into our neighborhood
-Having difficulty finding our way back to our house (we stayed with relatives in Palm Beach during the storm) because the street signs were gone and everything looked the same.

[MiamiRob]

wow interesting comments! I too remember driving into west Kendall and not recognizing anything! I drove for blocks when I realized I wasn't anywhere near to my home!
Yes I also didn't have AC for a month or TV but it was incredible how Miamians endured! We are a tough SOB's!

[Chewie_77]

Originally Posted by somebodymiami

was at Hialeah hospital exactly 1 week old lol

Lol, I was about a 1-year old baby during Andrew.

[feelquiet]

Lived in south miami, but had relatives at Saga Bay and Lakes By the Bay. We had toppled trees and no electricity for 4 long hot weeks, but were otherwise OK. I remember

- listening to Brian Norcross broadcastin from the basement of the TV studio via the radio. I remember him and Tony Segreti talking to this lady whose roof blew off, and she hid in her bathtub with her kid under a mattress.
- wading to my sister's house at saga bay on a road flooded with salt water and fish swimming about
- seeing the famous apt bldg in what is now cutler bay with the side wall sheared off, and all the little dollhouse-looking furniture inside
- navigating streets with no stoplights for months
- finding gas
- finding hot and cold food for 4 weeks without lights
- wondering where all the boats, ac units, mattresses that ended up all over the place came from
- "you loot, we shoot"
- Taking the "wall" of the "hampshire homes" at lakes by the bay and spraypainting the house #, insurance carrier and policy #. Then laying the sign by the stack of rubble where my brother's house was so the Allstate adjusters in the area could ID the houses.
- Watching Lennar remove the rubble of lakes by the bay
- Insurance fraud, traveling "contractors" taking your deposits, everyone taking the insurance money and moving to Broward
- Countrywalk
- Oddities like the one house in the neighborhood that was unscathed
- The local emergency director (don't remember her name) screaming on intl TV "We need the cavalry. Where is the cavalry?" That snippet was re-broadcast over and over. I guess it was Bush Sr.'s Katrina.