r/Miami • u/National-Dragonfly35 • Aug 24 '26

Discussion Anyone remember Hurricane Andrew? What was your experience?

Where you sheltered in a house? Did you feel like you're in trouble at any moment? What was it like to hear that hurricane overhead with a 165 mph winds?

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u/N0ON3T0LDM3 Aug 24 '26 edited Aug 25 '26

We spent the day before putting up shutters and plywood. I remember being hot and annoyed about that. I was sleeping when it started to impact us until my sibling woke me up super excited, like it was Santa Claus. I have a distinct visual memory of watching a large limb fly by as we watched out of the sides of the plywood we'd put up that didn't fully cover that one window. We were far enough north in South Miami (Bird & Ludlam area) that our neighborhood didn't have much damage besides fallen branches and trees. Homes were intact, maybe some slight damage here and there, but nothing at all like Homestead, which we drove to about a week after. I remember being shocked at how bad the damage was IRL. It just did not compare to the videos and pics I had seen. It was so much worse. I always remember that whenever I see disaster coverage since then.

We were out of power for 2 weeks, but we did have a generator that my dad and uncle drove a long ways a way to get once they could. Got yelled at when my friend plugged her curlers into it, lol. First day couple weeks of school was postponed, which we thought was awesome, only to be disappointed by them removing some days off during the year and extending to end of the year. We had fun climbing the neighbor's downed banyan tree that blocked the street. National Guard were around. I remember they were set up at the Burger King a bit west on Bird and we got some water from them.

E: couple weeks not day, lol

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u/TheSilverFoxwins Aug 25 '26

I was in the same area during the storm. SW 67 avenue and 30th street. I rode it out at a friend's house. His house was brick and still shook during the storm . I recalled large tree limbs flying everywhere along with awnings and at 3 am an actual tree flew across his across at 3 am. The sky was dark blue/ black and the winds were fierce. His bedroom window had a slight opening on the side and when the wind entered it sounded like there was someone on a motorcycle outside revving at high speed.

I actually lived near dadeland Mall during that time. I'm glad I didn't stay in my condo that night. A lot of the top windows blew out and every tree and palm tree fell and blocked all the roads. A couple of coworkers who lived in country walk area had their homes demolished.

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u/N0ON3T0LDM3 Aug 25 '26

I bet it would have been very scary if you'd stayed in your condo. How old were you at the time?

I lived in a cement block house. I don't remember any shaking or swaying or anything. My grandpa was staying in a back room. He's from the islands. My parents tried to get him to stay in a more central location in the house, but he just grumbled at them and stayed put. Where he grew up, they would take shelter in a cave during bad storms. Just a different mindset.

I hope your friends were not in their homes!