Hurricanes

Some Famous Hurricanes

A powerful hurricane devasted three separate sections of the United States in the summer of 1992. Hurricane Andrew, the first of the season, swept through the Bahamas on August 23, killed at least four people and did much major damage. On the 24th it smashed into the Florida coast south of Miami with ongoing winds of 135 miles per hour and gusts reaching 165 miles per hour. In southern Dade County, 13 people were killed and more then 250,000 people were left homeless. At least 80,000 buildings, mostly homes, were demolished. Damaged estimates in Dade County ranged from $15 billion to $20 billion, making it the costliest disaster in American history. After Florida, Hurricane Andrew headed over to the Gulf of Mexico towards Louisiana. On August 26th it hit Louisiana 90 miles southwest of New Orleans at 140 miles per hour winds. Tornadoes resulting after the hurricane caused further damage to Louisiana and Mississippi on the 25th and the 26th. Luckily, the areas hit were less populated than in Florida. But there was major damage to the sugar cane crops, which was estimated at more than $200 million. On September 11, 1992 Hurricane Iniki struck the western Hawaiian Islands. The hardest hit was to Kauai, where the winds were 130 miles per hour. About 10,000 homes and nearly all of the island's 70 hotels were destroyed or severely damaged. Hawaii depends on all the tourists they have and Iniki caused a very big problem because all the tourist no longer wanted to go to Hawaii. "Jurrasic Park", the famous movie, was being filmed during that time and had to stop filming.

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