Hurricane Andrew in Florida - Research Paper Example

Hurricane Andrew in Florida Hurricanes are among extremely powerful forces in nature. They are attractive site to view from satellite imagery, but at a close range, they are monsters with raging fury that can alter our lives. This research paper depicts the socioeconomic, physical, and psychological impact of Hurricane Andrew in the process of shaping Miami Dade County, Florida. Introduction In the early morning hours of August 24, 1992, a powerful category 5 hurricane made landfall in Miami. With 165 miles per hour winds and gusts reaching 200 miles per hours, this large storm peeled rooftops from houses and overturned entire buildings. Traffic lights, trees, entire utility poles, and other fragments were turned into unstoppable airborne missiles, as the force of the wind lifted them up and hurled them through the sky; boats and cars were tossed around with consummate ease. John Nevola, writer for the International Social Science Council (ISSC), affirms, “No one knew of Saturday, August 24, 1992 that Hurricane Andrew would turn out to be the largest natural disaster in the nation's history.” (1). Indeed, it took everyone by surprise! During that time, the forecasters and TV media personnel were betting on no direct hit on South Florida and Miami; they were wrong! Andrew made a sharp turn in the Gulf of Mexico and returned from the West Coast on a direct path to Miami, full of fearless destruction, chaos, and unattainable force that left parts of South Miami as scenes found in a war zone (Nevola 1). The Article, “Technology Assessment & Research (TA&R) Project Categories - Hurricane Andrew,” states, “Hurricane Andrew, a Category-5 storm with sustained winds of 165 mph, pressure of 922 mbar, and 60-foot waves quickly became the most destructive U.S. hurricane on record as it passed through the Gulf of Mexico on August 24 and 25, 1992.”, (BOEMRE). During that time in 1992, our infrastructures such as homes and buildings were not designed to withstand such strong winds of a category 5 hurricane. Recognizing the lessons Andrew provided, our industry and standards regulators realized the importance of designing better structures to withstand future destructive events (Loope, Roman and Smith 158). Dr. Peter Vickery, PhD, P.E. and Dr. Frank Lavelle, PhD, P.E. in conjunction with staff members will present on October 24-26, 2012 Advances in Engineering Conference, in order to discuss, “Building code improvements and programs to encourage wind resistant construction.”, (ARA). Dr. Frank Lavelle, PhD also affirms, “The lessons learned from building performance in Hurricane Andrew led to change in the South Florida Building Code in 1994 and the eventual adoption of the statewide Florida Building Code (FBC) in 2002.”, (ARA). Andrew has taught us about how these powerful storms can affect our built environment. Therefore, it is extremely beneficial for government, builders, and citizens alike, to learn from these lessons to establish what we must still learn, to minimize losses in the future (ARA). New window wind and impact resistant have been created to withstand the tremendous impact of flying debris. High resistance window shutters have been developed as well as stronger thrust support for roofs of buildings and homes have been implemented in all new constructions. Even though much has changed in building codes and standards, there is still a formidable deal to improve upon, thus the ongoing need for conferences, workshops, research, and development of new guidelines and products (Provenzo and Fradd 120). Impacts Before the storm struck on the fateful day, the daily routines among the inhabitants of the area were as fixed as the stars. Therefore, on august 16, 1992, when a tropical depression forming 3,500 miles away near Africa was reported by National Weather Service, few paid attention. Most people decided to flee, but a few remained. According to After the Storm Report by St. Petersburg Times, hundreds of thousands of people fled south Florida for higher safer grounds with some preferring to abandon their homes permanently. For those who remained, they slowly rebuilt their homes although the memories of the devastation caused by the storm remain intertwined with those of uneventful day (Pittman). Before the storm, south Florida was home to thousands of people. The event caused psychological trauma to most residents especially children, for example, most of them did not find the courage to move freely within the neighborhood. According to Tetsuya Theodore Fujita, a university of Chicago meteorologist, the damage of Andrew occurred from vortices and not from straight-line winds. St. Peters bury newspaper quotes one of the residents, Charles Wilson, saying, “I went to bed with two jobs and woke up with no job and a piece of home…the hurricane minimized rainfall because of its characteristic movement at fast speed. The storm caused massive agricultural damage as well as damage to turkey point nuclear generating plant and homestead air force base..,” (Pittman). Power lines were also destroyed leaving the area residents without power. The water was also contaminated and had to be boiled for it to be use. The environment was also affected as coral reefs and wetlands succumbed to the destructive nature of the strong winds. It took twenty days for new trees and vegetation to recover (Pittman). It is; thus, imperative for proper measures to be put in place to curtail the impacts of such disasters. People should also be informed on the importance of respecting and adhering to the precautionary measures suggested by the meteorological department. If some of the residents had not ignored the evacuation notice placed by the local meteorology department, no deaths would have been reported (CDC). The storm revealed shoddy building constructions and inadequate building inspection. One thing is thus clear; it will be costly for one to buy a new constructed house because of the Andrew prompted building code changes (Stark). However, the changers are not a guarantee enough that they will be any safer. According to Judy Stark, Times Home Editor, the new code was supposed to reduce the amount of flying debris and make it less likely that the damage will be spread from one house to another (Stark). The president of Lennar’s U.S. Home division in North Florida affirms, “…the changes have not been that dramatic for us…” (Stark). The building industry should ensure that changes in the building codes are implemented by the affected. The building code should eliminate a patchwork of building regulations (Stark). The Florida home association proposes that the buildings should have sturdier foundations, more reinforcing bars, hurricane straps instead of clips ad concrete to hold masonry blocks. People should overlook the high cost involved in the improved building regulations and focus their attention of the long-term benefits of the process in minimizing the damage caused by these calamities (Stark). A periodic inspection program, to uncover and repair defects during design or installation, ought to be adopted. Secondary schemes of mitigation should also be developed to protect house critical household contents from contact with water (Stark). The social impacts were tremendous. It has to be considered before the hurricane, most of the people had not experienced any hurricane. This, coupled with the destruction caused by the storm, was an extremely traumatic experience (Belasen and Polachek 253). The slow response of the relief agencies and federal agents prompted the Dade county emergency management director, Kate Hale to exclaim over the televised news conference, “Where the Hell Is the Cavalry on This One? For God’s Sake, Where are they!” This sent alarm over political circle making the then president, George W. bush, to act. Some of the obstacles that made delivery of relief services difficult are coordination problems, among federal agents, on the administration of relief (Adair). Even though the government steeped in lack of timely and comprehensive damage assessment, reports by the local, state, and FEMA revealed that officials lacked explicit authority, and they had to wait for presidential guidance for any move. Insurance claims, in the wake of the storm, led to the closure of eleven insurance companies, and drained excessive equity from thirty more companies (Adair). Many of the losses were structural that added up to an estimated $16 billion. The federal insurance administration estimated that the flood damage due to hurricane would total to $100 million. Tom Callagher, the Florida insurance commissioner, recalls, “We had a bunch of companies wanting to leave. We had 1.2 million homeowners we knew of who were not going to be renewed and they had nowhere to go…” Bob Hunter, the CEO of National insurance consumer organization at the time recalls the desperation and anger of the affected customers, who were about to lose coverage due to abandonment by the insurance companies (Harrington). Even though, the government stepped in by implementing a catastrophe fund to protect the industry and their clients, the deductibles and insurance rates drastically increased. Many households were rendered ineligible for insurance coverage. It is imperative that the state establishes an emergency fund kitty for the victims, in case the insurance companies fail to compensate them (Harrington). In fact, the government should set up a national kitty for urgent disaster response so that victims will not suffer neglect in the hands of unscrupulous insurance agencies that are only business minded. The due course of the law should punish those insurance companies that could have terminated their deal with clients from the affects regions (Harrington). Survey Wind Speed The accurate data on the speed of the Andrew is scanty as most of the field weather stations transmitting information were interrupted by destructive nature of the storm. This implied that most of the reported data after the stations were interrupted provided information with many assumptions (Pittman). Most of the assumptions are the past data derived from the experience on hurricanes. It is basic logic that winds that can lead to such massive destructive should be moving at an extremely high speed. While the estimated value for the value of Andrew’s wind speed may deem elusive at landfall, the maximum estimations could span well over 125Kn (Rappaport 57). The US National Data Buoy Center reported that then strongest sustained winds near the surface occurred at the four-way rocks weather station (Rappaport 58). According to Mr. Scott Morrison, who is the official weather observer in Tamiami airport, the wind speed indicator showed that the wind speed reached beyond 100Kn. He also noted that the weather conditions worsened at about 30 minutes later (Rappaport 59). A comprehensive analysis of wind speed entailed contributions of data from public, damage surveys, interviews, evaluations of wind exposure on the sites, and destructive wind testing of anemometers. Because of the destruction or failure of measuring instruments, Andrew’s peak winds in south Florida were not directly measured (Pittman). For instance, the coastal marine automated network (C-MAN) station at four way rocks, in its last transmission on 24th August had earlier recorded an eight minute average speed of 169mph before the equipment was destroyed. The Atlantic Basin Hurricane Database Reanalysis Project of 2002 concluded that category five conditions of the hurricane only occurred in southern Dade near the coast if Cutler Ridge. All the other areas experienced category 3 and 4 conditions (Landsea 6). Survey Property and Psychological Impact The Rationale for the Survey In order to ascertain property and psychological impact of Hurricane Andrew in the area of Homestead, Florida, a two (2) question survey was conducted on fifty (50) people, twenty five (25 women) and twenty five (25) men. The survey was aimed at finding primary data on the effects of Hurricane Andrew and the people’s perception of the whole incident. It is evident that such natural calamities are a source of psychological trauma and suffering among people and thus the purpose of this survey was to find out people’s experiences and perceptions as concerns Hurricanes. The location of the survey was on the outside premises of Publix Homestead Towne Square, 891 N Homestead Blvd. The survey was conducted on Wednesday April 4th and Saturday April 7th from 5pm-8pm. The first question of the survey: how much damage did your home suffer from Hurricane Andrew? The answers to choose from are: a) lots of damage; b) average damage; c) little damage; d) no damage. The second question of the survey: do you live in fear of Hurricanes after Andrew’s experience? The answers to choose from are: a) yes; b) no Results and Analysis In the first question, out of the fifty respondents, 30 reported “lots of damage”, 10 reported “average damage”, 8 reported “little damage”, while only 2 reported “no damage”. This accounted for 60%, 20%, 16% and 4% of the total number of respondents respectively. From this, it is possible to say that the damage to property was massive. Many people had their property damaged in the calamity. It is also possible to say that some people managed to go unhurt by the disaster and this may be explained by those who left the place earlier as soon as they heard of the impending danger. In the second question, 45 people responded in the affirmative saying “Yes” they still live in fear of the Hurricanes while 5 people responded with a “No” saying they do not fear hurricanes. This accounted for 90% and 10% of the total number of respondents respectively. This shows us that people still live in fear of Hurricanes. The psychological trauma was huge and this is supported by the large number of people whose property was damaged. The 10% who said “No” are those who were either away from the location or left immediately they heard of the danger. Summary In short the survey has proved that a great number of people were affected by the Hurricane. Many of them lost their property during the event. Very few people were unaffected by the disaster either because they evacuated early or because they were not present at the time of the occurrence. The psychological impact of the Hurricane was great and this is shown by the many people who still live in fear of another Hurricane. Those who do not fear are a small percentage and are mainly those who were away from the scene and were not affected directly by the incident. Interview Anonymous Survivor The following account of an actual anonymous survivor of Hurricane Andrew is not found in any literature reviews. The survivor being interviewed has asked to remain completely anonymous and not to provide any indicators related to her identity, old address, new address, nor any direct or indirect information related to her true identity or that of her families. Due to the destructive nature of this massive hurricane and the social economic, physical and psychological impact of this natural disaster on human life, I conducted a one and one interview with a survivor of Hurricane Andrew. In order to maintain her identity anonymous, and for the purpose of this interview process and writings, I will call her “Tiffany”. On the morning of August 24, 1992, Tiffany was 19 years old and lived in the East of Homestead Air Force Base. Today, Tiffany is 39 years old and lives in Kendall, Florida. The interview took place on Tuesday, April 10, 2012 at 7pm in her small apartment. My first question to Tiffany is: tell me what happened the day Hurricane Andrew came through your area? Tiffany answered that she would never forget that at 5:00 am on August 24, 1992 her entire family’s life was forever changed, as her parents had decided to stay in their house since the media continuously announced that Andrew was going to hit North Florida, but they heard over on the radio that the hurricane had dropped South. She would never forget the horrible sound as if the world was ending, the horrible sound of ripping forces shredding their home into pieces. She could hear her father and brother scream for God’s mercy as they took cover on a separate bathroom, seating inside the tub, while Tiffany and her mother were on another bathroom doing the same thing. She can hear and feel the pounding force of the hurricane’ winds destroying everything in its path. At times, she heard what appeared to be strong, ear braking high pitch sounds, as if a train engine was coming at all four corners of their bathroom, thus her mother and her covered tight their ears with their hands to keep the noise away. They lost track of time, as several hours later, they realize that there was no roof or walls around them, the rain and strong wind were pounding their bodies. At times, it seemed as if they were having a nightmare. It was like in the movies! They were numbed from the shock! Early in the morning, as they finally decided to try to walk through the debris and looked for help, is when they realized that the nightmare was a real event, it looked like a war zone as seen in movies. The debris were all over the place, thus they had to be very careful walking around. My second question to Tiffany is: did you see any other survivors and how were you and your family rescued? Tiffany answered that they saw about ten other survivors walking around as zombies, lots of destruction, severely injured people and what appeared to be dead bodies throughout the area, which made her cry her eyes out. Subsequently, they saw military personnel and her father mentioned that they were probably from the National Guard or from Homestead Air Force Base. As the hours passed, the stench of death began to saturate the air; it was windy that morning. The more they walked through small paths of unnamed streets, full of debris, the more they realized that this hurricane had destroyed everything in its path. Soon after, military personnel stopped them and asked them to go onto a military truck to be taken to a safer area. As they got into the back of the military truck, she fixed her eyes on another gruesome scene, another military truck passed by them full of black body bags piled up on top of each other. That is when she overheard the driver shout to our truck’s driver that they were taking the remains to Metro Zoo for disposal. The heat was suffocating! All army personnel were armed with rifles. They did not see any emergency medical personnel or helicopters airlifting the injured or walking zombies as she calls them. They were many road checkpoints controlled by military personnel. They took them to an open area where they were setting large tents, had some medical personnel and military personnel as well. There is where she overheard that the dead bodies were being burned at Metro Zoo and many of them were migrant workers. My third and final question to Tiffany is: how did this event affect your family and your life thereafter? Tiffany answered: they lost everything they had, jobs, school, friends, home, personal possessions, car, photo albums, memories, neighbors, dreams, and forever changed their lives. Her father died of a massive heart attack a year after Andrew and her mother is in a Nursing Home with Alzheimer and no longer knows she is her daughter. Her brother married and moved away with his wife to Brazil. For the past five to six years she feels a sense of relief, since no hurricanes have come to South Florida. By this point in the interview, it is obvious that Tiffany is holding back tears, because of the memories that the event brings, she pauses, sighs and the interview ended. Conclusion In a period of less than four hours, hurricane Andrew became the most destructive calamity in the calendar of United States history. Hurricane Andrew was destructive, long lived classical and very powerful. The estimated value of Andrew’s wind speed may deem elusive at landfall, the maximum estimations could span well over 125Kn. The US National Data Buoy Center reported that then strongest sustained winds near the surface occurred at the four-way rocks weather station. The disaster caused immense damage to South Dade, and it destabilized its economic structures. It caused eminent structural damage of trees over the wetlands that these winds surpassed. The storms are to blame for the dwindling tourism sector of Miami as they severely damaged the mangrove forest of Biscayne and Everglades national parks (Rappaport 58). From the survey we can see that the Hurricane destroyed property of unknown value, businesses were destroyed and the economy of the city of Miami shattered. Other significant effects of the storm range from destruction to infrastructure, loss of human and animal life, and emotional turmoil to the survivors. Tiffany’s moving story brings us live into the disaster as she recounts of the lost life friends, belongings and memories together with the psychological trauma that the Hurricane caused to her parents leading to the sudden death of her father and the deteriorating health of her mother as a result of the incident. As she recounts the story we see the dead bodies all over and tears flow in her eyes as she sees bodies being transported to the Metro zoo. The emotional impact is greatly felt in this story and reveals the sufferings that people went through. The slow response of the relief agencies and federal agents to the disaster contributed to the state of prolonged deterioration in the health status of the victims. However, one positive thing that emerged was the fact that the hurricane raised significant awareness about hurricanes and forced many residents to take precautionary measures and new building codes, rules and regulations. As shown by the survey, many people are still afraid of the recurrence of a Hurricane, though they are now aware of its devastating effects and how they can ensure their safety. The big challenge is that the devastating disaster might come again! As feared by many of the residents of the Miami. When the sounds of that roaring engine touch again the city streets of Miami, the questions everyone should answer is Will Miami be ready for another Category 5 hurricane like that of Hurricane Andrew? Will, under the new building codes, roofs, windows and doors repel hurricane strength winds? Works Cited Adair, Bill. 10 years ago, her angry plea got hurricane aid moving. 20 August 2002. Web. 16 April 2012 ARA. Upcoming Events. 2012. Web. 16 April 2012 Belasen, Ariel R. and Solomon W. Polachek. "How disasters affect local labor markets: the effects of Hurricane in Florida." Journal of Human Resources 44. 1 (2009): 251-276. Print. BOEMRE. Technology Assessment & Research (TA&R) Project categories: Hurricane Andrew. 2 June 2010.Web. 16 April 2012 CDC. Hurricane: A prevention guide to promote your personal Health and Safety. 01 January 1994. Web. 16 April 2012. Harrington, Jeff. Insurance customers still paying the price. 18 August 2002. Web. 16 April 2012 Landsea, Christopher W. "A Re-analysis of Hurricane Andrew's (1992) Intensity." May 2004. NOAA. Web. 15 April 2012. Loope, Davis G., L. C. Roman and G. Smith. Assessment of Hurricane Andrew impacts on natural and archeological resources of Big Cypress National Reserve, Biscayne National park, and Everglades’s national Park. New York: U.S. Dept. of the Interior, National Park Service, Natural Resource Program Center, Natural Resource Information Division, 1996. Print. Nevola, John. "Hurricane Andrew: The Mother of all disasters." Disaster Recovery Journal 5.4 (1999): 1. Print. Pittman, Craig. Storm's howl fills the ears of survivors. 18 August 2002.Web. 16 April 2012 Provenzo, Eugene F. and Sandra H. Fradd. Hurricane Andrew, the Public schools and the rebuilding of Community. New York: State University of New York Press, 1995. Print. Rappaport, Edward N. "Hurricane Andrew." 1996. National Hurricane center. Web. 16 April 2012 Stark, Judy. New building code brings cost, confusion. 19 August 2002. 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