Hurricane Andrew the Impact Hurricane

Hurricane Andrew The Impact Hurricane Andrew Made on Florida Hurricane Andrew' was a ferocious tropical storm that hit the northwestern Bahamas, the southern Florida peninsula, and south-central Louisiana in the early hours of August 24, 1992 causing unprecedented devastation along its path; it struck the southern Dade county, Florida especially hard leaving 15 dead and up to a quarter of a million people homeless. With estimated damages of over $25 billion, it remained until Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the costliest natural disaster to have hit the United States ("Preliminary Report" National Hurricane Center).

As we shall see in this paper, despite the relative success of the early warning system and the resulting evacuation, the impact of 'Hurricane Andrew' in Florida was exacerbated by the confused, disorderly and uncoordinated response of the government and the disaster management organizations in the United States. Gathering of the Storm The beginnings of 'Hurricane Andrew' were innocent enough.

It started as a low-pressure weather system off the coast of Africa on August 14, 1992 and seemed no different than many other atmospheric ripples that form every summer in this part of the world.

However, this seemingly innocent weather system gradually gathered strength and by August 16, 1992 had grown into a major tropical depression; the following day it was upgraded to a tropical storm and given the name "Andrew." Over the next week, Andrew meandered leisurely across the South Atlantic before suddenly picking up strength and momentum on August 23 when it developed into a Category IV hurricane. The same evening, it struck the Bahamas with ferocious winds approaching 120 miles per hour.

After ravaging the islands, this powerful storm moved back out into the Atlantic Ocean, where it proceeded to move along in a northwesterly direction striking the U.S. coastline 35 miles south of Miami, Florida early on August 24 with even greater ferocity (Schneider, 87). The Relative Success of the Early Warning System Modern technology, satellite images and early storm warning systems had made it possible for the authorities to know several days in advance the approximate areas where Andrew would hit the U.S. coastline.

The National Hurricane Center (NHC)'s forecast of the hurricane's track proved to be fairly accurate. However, the rate of Andrew's westward acceleration over the southwestern Atlantic was greater than initially forecast by NHC ("Preliminary Report" NHC, para on "Forecast and Warning Critique"). Hurricane watches were accordingly issued for south Florida from Titusville to the Keys and the entire governmental emergency response system was activated.

Massive evacuations were ordered in Florida: according to official records about 55,000 people left the Florida Keys and evacuations were ordered for 517,000 people in Dade County, 300,000 in Broward County, 315,000 in Palm Beach County and 15,000 in St. Lucie County (Ibid.). Due to timely evacuation of people along the coastline of Florida, the loss of life in Hurricane Andrew was relatively less than has previously occurred in hurricanes of comparable strength.

Impact of Hurricane Andrew & the Inadequate Disaster Management Unlike the fortunately low level of lives lost, the structural damage caused by Hurricane Andrew in south Florida was colossal. The storm caused extensive property damage across a1,100-mile radius, and almost the entire electrical systems and the telephone networks were knocked out of commission in the area. Roads, highways, and airports were blocked by so much debris that normal transportation systems were virtually paralyzed.

In such a situation, most people in the disaster-struck area were not able to handle the abnormally severe situation on their own and looked for help from the government agencies. Local disaster management workers, being disaster victims themselves were, like their fellow southern Floridians, looking for food, water, shelter, and medical care and their ability to help was severely limited (Franklin). This led to chaos and confusion and law and order became a major problem.

As food and water supplies dwindled, frustrated disaster victims proceeded to steal supplies from neighborhood stores. Greedy store owners resorted to 'price gouging' by selling the short supplies at outrageously high prices. Local police and National Guards, being too few in numbers, failed to control the breakdown in law and order and some local residents took the matter in their own hands by arming themselves with pistols and shotguns to protect their remaining possessions (Schneider, 90).

Despite there being a "Federal Response Plan" in place, the bureaucratic machinery took a long time to activate. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which was supposed to implement the Federal Response Plan, was hardly in a state to respond adequately to the situation. The Agency was still geared to respond primarily to a massive nuclear attack and saw its main responsibility as distributing federal loans and grants to help rebuild an area after a disaster.

It would not issue direct aid to a state until it was given a specific request by the governor, and the state was unable to issue specific requests for aid because it had no one was available to assess the damage (Franklin). Federal help was so slow in arriving that a frustrated director of Dade County's Emergency Office made the famous remark, ".. Where the hell is the cavalry on this one?" (Quoted by Lerbinger, 61) the quote captured the overall sense of frustration and helplessness that disaster victims felt.

Stung by the criticism of the federal response to the emergency, President Bush created a presidential task force headed by Transportation Secretary Andrew H. Card, Jr. For jump-starting the entire disaster response process. Although Card took important measures that helped expedite the delivery of governmental assistance; but by bypassing existing policies and processes, these measures ultimately proved disruptive and expensive and caused greater confusion and hindered a coordinated response to the disaster (Schneider, 100).

In addition, as if two cooks were not enough to 'spoil the broth' the federal government sent in a third -- the military. It is true that the military performed important tasks in the disaster relief process following the hurricane.

It quickly assessed the seriousness of the situation and airlifted in tons of food, supplies, and equipment to the affected areas; it cleared debris from the streets and airports; it used mobile field kitchens to serve meals to hungry citizens and relief workers; erected tent cities to house the homeless; and it operated clinic facilities that provided emergency medical care to local residents (Ibid.) the army and marine troops also helped to stabilize conditions in the disaster-stricken areas and controlled the looting.