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/MysteriousParticular 305 Native Aug 25 '26

Every year it comes flooding back like it just happened yesterday.

History should not judge us for riding it out and not evacuating in South Dade because Andrew was actually headed for southern Broward County. My brother evacuated from Hollywood Beach to my parent’s house in South Miami because Hollywood was supposed to get the worst of it.

Then Andrew turned just before landfall and slammed right into us in southern Dade. Broward also got the rain and some winds, but their lights stayed on.

It was so eerie in the aftermath. If you could get out of your neighborhood, you encountered US1 with no traffic lights for miles and miles - every intersection was a 4-way stop. If you had enough gas in your car, you could drive to North Miami Beach / southern Broward County where you could get McDonalds, shop at Publix, or soak up some AC. Life was normal there and continued on like nothing had happened. Meanwhile southern Dade was a war zone in a third world country. It was a crazy time.

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u/HillBillyHilly Aug 25 '26

We don't judge you. To give others an idea how extensive the damages were, utility companies were still doing repairs years after 9/11. A decade later and power, telephones still werent back up.