Hurricane Andrew-From the WTVJ "Bunker"

[jt8fan7272]

I will never forget watching with my grandmother Hurricane Andrew taking down the radar and it disappearing! Howling and Roaring for hours! We were at the Imperial off Brickel Ave. Never will forget it!

[fancyasian]

WOW @ 1:25

[merc1288]

it's scary that i remember every moment of this storm and i was only years old at the time, i lived in homestead and i didn't think we were gonna live through it.

[Virtuousxlife]

(cont) He'd open the front door(not a good idea... but the windows were boarded up) and it'd sound like a freak train outside, this... indescribable howling wind with the sound of harsh rain. Another unfortunate thing was that my father was working at the time, as a city police officer.

[Virtuousxlife]

I was about to turn 5 years old in September and despite being so young, I remember most of that night. I was living in Allapattah.. I remember my family worried over the fact that we were the area expected to be directly hit but because of that last minute "wobble" Andrew made, unfortunately our Southern neighbors were hit hard. I also recall my Grandfather keeping a watchful eye on a pine tree right infront of our house since he'd fear it would topple over onto our house.

[MsSimpleLife]

Brian Norcross was awesome.  He really helped everyone get through a tough night. I was in Kendall. Remember it like yesterday.

[1234thefishguy]

i cant imagine this, im scared of tornados

[MrWeatherman10]

i wonder if the US or other Atlantic Oceans Countries this hurricane season will ever see a cat 3,4 or 5 hurricanes this year

[mjcamck71]

Let us all be thankful for genuine professionals like Bryan Norcross. We were among the lucky ones - living in Boca Raton, close enough to feel the outer bands, but too far away from the eye to endure the brunt. Our baby girl kept getting woken up by the sound of the rain hitting against the storm shutter on her window. Condolences to the victims and their families who did not survive.

[altfactor]

Wasn't this coverage picked-up and simulcast by CNN, NBC, CBS and ABC??

[sickandtiredofmorons]

why are you fucking idiots turning this thread into a debate about the nigger closet terrorist Obama Bin Laden?

[Intelliguy20]

Owch

[ericsummey95]

i wish brian was the actual hurricane expert on the weather channel instead of just being called the "specialist" i like him better than knabb.

[jw870206]

Bryan Norcross: a legend. It's great to see him on TWC. That's easily the best move TWC has made since Dr. Greg Forbes.

[erikjohnnn]

i lived in Kendall during Andrew. i was 5 years old but i remember it well, too. we got it pretty bad.. house flooded, ceilings caved in, the palm trees in our front yard on the ground into the neighbor's yard. but thank goodness we didn't live a few miles south in homestead, where everything was just flattened.

[TOPOFFMAN]

Was this George W. Bush playing his little hurricane games again?

[erikjohnnn]

@TOPOFFMAN maybe George H.W. Bush... this was in 1992 dude

[TOPOFFMAN]

@erikjohnnn Same result..... Bush's fault. I guess papa Bush was a pioneer in hurricane creation before Jr. It's Bush's fault. If the dog bites.....It's Bush's fault. If the bee stings........It's Bush's fault if the earth quakes. It's Bush's fault if your car battery dies.

[jw870206]

@TOPOFFMAN I share your disdain for Papa Bush and Dubya Bush. I wouldn't go as far as to pin all failures on them, but it's bullshit that Obama's taking the brunt of disdain for all the mess that his pinhead predecessor left for him. I almost want to say that Bush had 2 motives for signing the bailout into law: 1) Further his good relations with the richest 1% and 2) to make life hell for Obama, because it was pretty much a given that Obama was going to be elected.

[TOPOFFMAN]

@jw870206 First of all, Barack Obama wanted the job. But because he is black, nothing will ever be "His Fault". The man has no sense of humor or humility. He can't take criticism. Funny when you say " but it's bullshit that Obama's taking the brunt of disdain for all the mess that his pinhead predecessors left for him" The dude wanted the job! Every time he blames others for his failures. An all time low moment for a sitting president. Take ownership.

[jw870206]

@TOPOFFMAN I agree, Obama hasn't manned up enough to do the job right, but when he takes all the blame for the shit we are in, that's when I take exception. If he's going to be blamed for anything, it should be not cleaning up the mess with enough zeal. However, the mess we're in is going to take longer to clean up than it did to make it. Bush had 8 years to tear shit up. Obama's not going to clean it up, but he needs to set up a solid foundation upon which we can build. So far, not so good.

[TOPOFFMAN]

@jw870206 This country needs a leader. President Obama is not one. He reminds me of a college professor, who speaks to us like we are students in a classroom. Thank god, that all American people are not that stupid to be led by this marxist.

[Ac220404]

@TOPOFFMAN there werent two presidents when these things happened. and just cause you want the job doesnt make you responsible. Just cause Eisenhower wanted the job doesnt make him responsible for the creation of the atom bomb.

[TOPOFFMAN]

@Ac220404 I think the atom bomb was created years before Eisenhower took the oath. But He was a Republican. And he should at least get some of the blame. You think? And that means that George W. Bush must have been a G.D. genius! After all, they say, that he created Hurricanes and guided them to kill only black peeps. Howd' he do that?? And what about those twin towers!! George Bush IS GOD!!!!!!!!!! .

[TOPOFFMAN]

@erikjohnnn 1992, Yeah I understand it all now. BTW, This video is of no particular interest to me. I'm just responding to comments that I receive,.of my comments on these boards. The date of this video is irrelevant as far as I'm concerned.

[StoneCold75]

I was born and raised in Homestead and lived thru this horror for a year afterwards..Everything destroyed, lived in a tent guarding my house from looters, showing my ID at National Guard checkpoints, eating military MREs 3 meals a day, and the stench of everything rotting and mold everywhere still get at me mentally. If anyone has true live home video of Andrews strike please let me know...I know it was 1992 and video cameras were very expensive back then, not everyone had one like today.

[GDelva2003]

I remember I had to go to Highland oaks High school for shelter

[ladiesman22]

This storm made Bryan Norcross a household name.

[rbrown2123]

I remember that it was scary as hell. I got lucky and my house stood up. Others around me were not so lucky.

[wwwy2000]

those tv station buildings are hard enough to survive a cat 5 hurricane

[asnycnow15]

WTVJ Completely owned the Coverage of Hurricane Andrew

[chocolatechip1952]

we were livimg in LeHigh Acres at the time

[gueropuro69]

I was 7 and living just north of Miami in Brevard county FL. I remember going a week at least without school cuz ours was used for a shelter. God bless the families that were affected by this storm

[StoneCold75]

@gueropuro69 if you were "just north of Miami" you were in BROWARD County...Brevard County is by Cape Canaveral where the Space Shuttle taked off..

[Amnesiacmidnitetoker]

I was drunk and i went outside for some reason i thought my dog was out there I got hit by a mail boc in the should broke my arm and almost got blown away turns out my dog was stolen the day before but i was drunk and had forge ting about that my wife was sos scared i was acting stupid drunk lol thas the last time i got drunk I could had died the house got flooded broke my arm and to numb the pain i kepted drinking and drinking my brother tied me to the bed lol i was out of control fuked.

[nathanjeffrey92]

My dad has been in the public insurance adjusting bussiness for 25 years down here in south florida. My dad got calls to go down to miami everyday from that. He got calls about boats in peoples pools and fish on the 2nd floors of houses.

[JohannaPalacio001]

I was 5 and we had to go to my godmother's house because we thought our house was not going to hold. It was Horrible!

[redoma2008]

i was 13 year old want the hurrican adrew we was stay in my grand parend house true the hurrcan

[PCTexasGuyz]

Brian Norcross is the BEST weather guy, EVER!!! And HE should be the NHC Director!! Is he still at Channel 4?

[ILovestorms]

No, he is long gone from there, you should get his book, hurricane almanac.

[sfltvcom]

no he left on his own. created a hurricane emergency network to assist with distributing official info about impending hurricanes

[Kapu37]

No, he left a while ago. :(

[Karuune]

@Kapu37

Bryan Norcross' replacement, John Morales, was actually doing the same thing during the storm for the Spanish speaking community on Univision. He's currently the chief meteorologist for NBC, and is apparently doing a wonderful job.

[j4chri]

i found out about this when I was at the record store. And NBC did a movie about this; I remember seeing it.

[S0ulEater99]

I was born 3 months after Andrew hit, so I can't say I know I know what it was like to go through it, but my family's told me stories about it, and how they tried to cover it up and make it not seem so bad after it was over..

I've been watching Hurricane Andrew vids for the past like hour now, and I've got to say that I'm damn glad I wasn't born yet when it hit, and didn't have to go through something like that, and wish I'll never have to.

I get major chills every time I watch one of these vids

[danooct1]

Hmm...the radar fell off the building. That's not a good sign.

[GWBsucksMonkeyNuts]

I remember watching this in 1992.

[sebringdnf]

A friend of mine lived in Cutler Ridge. All his windows blew out and everything in his house was ruined. He had a library and all his books were probably in the Everglades somewhere. Didn't have electric for 45 days after and had to guard his house with a shot gun from looters. He moved to Mount Dora after that.

[massefeect18]

my dad had a m4 and his friends house went down so he moved in with us and he had a damn 12 gauge shotgun to protect lotters, my mom was in the hospital giving birth to my sister with no power, i was in my room bored to death im still here and we moved over a few houses

[liquidstl]

That is bone chilling.... is there any more of this footage?

[RickR0ll]

Seriously...what genius decided to change it?

[TornadoWarning]

Norcross rocks....calm demeanor during a historic event. That's how you cover a severe weather event.

[tealmarlin]

He didnt have to be held up by that guy. Iv been in worst weather then that walking to get bread.

[johne30587]

Had that son of a bitch jumped just 5 miles more to the north, I guarantee you Miami would have never recovered and the skyline wouldve never developed to where it is now.

I'm sorry for all of you that were in homestead, if it was bad in Westchester I can only imagine down there...

[hurricaneleoj]

this is true Miami dodged a huge bullet..

[Neimad5705]

there were 12 of us in a walk-in closet in Homestead, just off of US1...i was 9 years old, and it sounded like a freight train was going through our hallway...the door of the electrical panel was flapping back and forth...nightmarish..like it was yesterday...

[MykiMix7]

I remember that I had family living in Homestead (south of Miami)... I was just a kid, but a few days after the storm, I could stand on a car in homestead and see for miles! All the houses were nothing but piles of people's stuff, not even 10 feet off the ground...

[Ankofox07]

it hit virigina as well...i remember when i was little....i survied it and i am still livin' thank god!

[mattybissrocks]

is this actual news footage of hurricane andrew hitting florida?

[meatwad4900]

Yeah this is the real thing. Everyone I see this it just leaves me in awe of the pure carnage Andrew unleashed. Waay worse than the hurricanes I've been through, and I was in 3.

[tle021764]

I remember this broadcast as if it were yesterday. I was in Kendall which is just a few miles north of Cutler Ridge. My daughter and I were in the tub with the cat (who didn't move) and I could feel the inner wall pull away from my head. My boyfriend braced himself against the tub with his feet against the door. It was the most terrifying thing I have ever been through. There were 200mph gusts where I was. Massive trees were just "gone". Nowhere to be found. Chilling seeing this again.

[johnnyjet33030]

Yep, there were so many helicopters overhead teh days after it looked like a major war zone, complete with sporotic shooting from looters , police and then the guard.

[mhr254]

I was in a shelter in Cutler Ridge.... Everything in my neighborhood was absolutely destroyed. Total destruction. I remember watching this and crying for hours.

The day after was total mayham. No law. Gunshots all night long I watched my dad fight a man at a destroyed shopping center.

A few days later we had national guard stationed at the entrance of our neighborhood. Thank god for them!

[johnnyjet33030]

Also, undocumented, 100's if not thoudands of people killed-mostly illegal alien field workers in trailers and hiding under traliers-i sopoke to many guard and helpers who saw such and i witnessed refrigerated trucks leaving homestead all night for many nights reported to be hauling bodies. Of course this has always been denied by officials, but many saw this. Official death toll rose dramatically after time passed, as did the actual wind speed and strenght changes to cat 5 years later.

[johnnyjet33030]

Yea, florida city which is about center ground zero in homestead took full force dead center eyewall and the eye center. The whole homestead area looked like one of the phots from Heroshima japan, after the atomic bomb attack. Everything was flattened, especially trailer parks and weak construction. Brian Norcross was a hero of the storm, saved a lot of people with his advice and constant broadcast. Poeple who tried t bolt to cars , etc, outside were killed by debris.

[johnnyjet33030]

Actually, the anamometers broke off at tamimai airport in Kendall at 215 gusts and at homestead air force base they broke at 235.

THe major damage area was about 30 miles diameter , centering off of Homestead fla which is about 20 miles south of downtown miami -the national herricane center was then located in coral gaboes, about 15 miles north of center of eyewall, still north of the north east wall which spawned over 1000 tornadoes. The hurricane center recorded 160 mph winds, 15 miles north

[1957bassman]

I was in an apartment in Florida City. First, the roof and ceiling split away. Then, one by one, the walls fell apart. I was listening to the police on a scanner. The eye came over Perrine and there was about 10 minutes of calm. Then the shit hit the fan. The back half put me on the ground with my head split open. I spent the next month in a Tampa hospital. EVACUATE WHEN THEY TELL YOU TO!

[howardc4290]

@1957bassman Amen bro. These things ain't no joke.

[franartcis]

damn, wow I live in West Kendall, and hopefully my 2000 built house can wistand a cat 5 hurricane, cuz we got the shutters we got the supplies i just wonder if we got the infrastructure... Andrew was a beast man, shit 170+ winds?? are you kidding me, shit man I wonder how it felt to be inside of one of thos Homestead trailers...

[liquidstl]

well.... franartcis...... 170mph of winds are similar to those found in EF4 tornadoes....... so if you think your house could withstand an impact from a violent tornado, the I doubt it.... oh, and dont forget the storm surge.... the storm surge can be phenomenally powerful

[DudeDie222]

In the Bahamas, a surge of 26 feet was recorded.

[TwoEyeCyclops]

I live in North Miami, and immediately went to KEndall and Homestead to help people after the storm... Contractors built tons of shitty houses down there that just totally failed as soon as Andrew hit them hard.. it was really sad..

[J0nny777]

man i was not even alive and my mom and dad lived in new york now i live in miami now we got ike which i might now exprince which my be the next andrew

[nerdynicky]

i was born 6 days after andrew and i've lived in miami my whole and gone through a crap load of hurricanes and storm. if ike came straight at us i would say that he might be your andrew but ike is nothing compared to andrew :/

[caramel0312]

I was 2 when Andrew hit my home in Kendall The only thing I remember was my mom and dad yelling. Our house was completly damaged. We ended up living with my aunt and uncle for the next 3 months...crazyy shiznit meng

[portercmt]

I was 15 when Andrew hit Florida. My mother and I lived in North Miami, we drove up to Ft Lauderdale to be with my dad when it hit. I remember school was postponed due to the Hurricane. We went to the swap shop and they had t-shirts saying "I survived Hurricane Andrew". We went to Albertsons a couple of days later, to buy food, no power so mom wrote a check for the food. Homestead was never the same after.

[ak120000]

Most of the wind measuring instruments broke during landfall, some had readings of 165 mph. Winds of 175 were unofficially recorded at Turkey Point,where one of the stacks actually cracked. The stacks were built to sustain winds of 210 mph, so i can imagine higher wind gusts might have been recorded if the meters weren't broken.

[xbonquishax]

I lived 5 miles away from the NHC, and I remember peeking out of my downstairs bathroom right into my living room. Suddenly, this HUGE tree we had on our corner rammed through the window. I could hear glass and debris flying everywhere. My mom was pregnant and screamed for me to come back in the bathroom. My stepfather at the time had to get a mattress from upstairs to try and prevent more glass from flying in. I was pretty intense.

[xbonquishax]

*It was pretty intense.

[BuzzinShwayze]

dude that is insain, whoever lived through this storm i respect alot.

[totalownage334]

my mom was in the storm

[miami100]

mah i cant spell so what i have a nice paying job i do land scaping i im also owning a couple of house's that my peps left me my brother has a law degree so im pretty much not in a need for all that after i got out of jail i think i did all rite for my self

[steelermia]

I was enjoying a Steelers-Bears preseason game that Sunday night before the storm hit .. little did I know that I wouldn't even have electricity for the next 3 weeks beginning the next day lol

[thoomie]

I am from the Netherlands, but my best youth-friend at that time was on a holiday with his father in Florida. He was 14 years of age and they stayed in a underground bunker during the storm. When he was back in Holland he had a T-shirt with the text: "I survived Hurricane Andrew" I found this very impressive. That's my memory of this storm.

[miami100]

i rember this hurricane i was 10 years old when it hit i rember the sound of the wind was so scarey the lights was out for i thnk 2 weeks it was scarey

[dbxxd1972]

So, now at 28 years old, you still can't spell worth a shit - SCARY SCARY SCARY - not 'scarey'.

[3Hunter7]

Hurricanes are so fun. I cant wait for the new one ^_^.

[3Hunter7]

Boom goes the radar!.

[RandomNameTag]

As bad as this was, it could have been 10 times worse if it were twice as big in size and struck just 10 miles further north. All of Miami, even the north side, would have been completely destroyed. It's even more risky nowadays with all the buildup that's going on around there.

[NickJames4real]

I was living in South Miami when the storm hit. The winds were just intense, its hard to describe, alot of howling and banging. We just had wooden shutters held down with bolts so a couple of them just flew right off and ended up with smashed windows. We had coconuts in one of the rooms because of our coconut tree in the backyard. A huge tree limb tore off and landed in our neighbors backyard, this limb as the length of a bus! My cousins lost their entire second floor.

[k24accord]

man, amazing how its already been 16 years since andrew hit. i lived in hialeah at the time and i remember looking outside after the fact and seeing houses with parts of the roof missing. really something else to see all that at 6 years old

[Crazzeefingers]

I remember all this like it was yesterday.

After power failed, followed on radio.

At dawn, the carnage was everywhere.

Norcross gave great tips throughout.

The beacon in the storm for sure.

[isirota1965]

I lived in Coral Gables at the time. This storm was amazing, and the wind figures that they were mentioning (152 mph at the National Hurricane Center) ended up being low!!

[vaportrails44]

One long night. I lived in Davie for over 22 years and we got pounded...but nothing like it was 20 miles south of us.

[airdriver]

I was watching the news on the Sunday morning before Andrew made landfall and my brother suggested we call our cousin who lived in Cutler Ridge. We got him on the phone and he told us he had planned to ride this storm out with his roommates. But the cops had just came by and told him the surge would reach the second floor.

So I'm heading to Orlando,"he told us.

His roommates stayed. They survived but swore they'd never be that stupid again.

[brandonbdogg]

hold the door hold the door lol stupid people

[codefreak5]

I have this video on VHS and I have seen it a few times. It's pretty good.

[KUSA1]

I Remember KCNC cutting into programing to tell us that Andrew was coming ashore, & then around 30 min later NBC NEWS Cutting in to show live coverage of Hurricane Andrew as it hit Miami.

[asnycnow15]

wow i thank WTVJ for being calm during this storm.

WTVJ should be honored for this

and NBC should be happy to have WTVJ

[cm524]

if u have any clips from wptv from any of the hurricanes that hit or just missed, such as frances, jeanne, wilma, andrew, irene or floyd, can u please post it?

[TimeCr0ss]

I actually met Brian back in 2000 when I worked at the CompUSA in North Miami Beach right off the Palmetto & 12th avenue. I thanked him greatly for his service back during Andrew in 1992. It was a pretty cool moment.

[btm85bubs]

I met him at Borders when he did a book signing (for his hurricane almanac) in 2006. He was very nice.

[archelleta]

Hurricane Camille was a Cat.5 on the gulf coast.

[kris6694]

yes it was! Sadly, the south-west Mississippi coast was also devastated by Camille (Pass Christian, Long Beach.) The storm surge was the same height as Katrina but in a smaller area, because the intense Camille was a compact storm. Many did die on the MS coast in Camille, because they underestimated the power of the storm. The death toll did not compare, however, to the horrific numbers of Katrina.

[tenfiveracer]

Hurrican Katrina was no Andrew, Andrew was way more powerful (cat 5)wheras Katrina hit land as a 4.Katrina just hit a vulnerable area.A category 3 would have even caused similar flooding which occured after the storm had left.I should know I lived through both of them.Andrew was an ass kicker!

[kris6694]

Those who downgrade the effects of Katrina, never visited south-mississippi or louisiana afterward. Andrew was intense but small in diameter. The day before landfall, Katrina packed sustained winds to 175, was massive in size, and built the wall of water which killed nearly 1600 people. Thankfully, it's max winds weakened before landfall. (Read the Sunday AM warnings(day before landfall)out of the NWS New Orleans office to find out "how bad it really could have been.")

[jctheradiodude]

I see both sides, but I also see this: had Andrew hit New Orleans (as was feared for a brief time after it had moved out into the Gulf), it would have done MUCH more damage than Katrina did. You think Katrina leveled the region?  Try Katrina on steroids for an idea of what Andrew would have done.

[majora158]

katrina stole andrew's thunder

[Delta767300ER]

Not at all. Andrew was much stronger. They were totally different storms.

[isirota1965]

Exactly right. Andrew was one of only three Category Five storms to ever hit the U.S.A. mainland.

[Delta767300ER]

Ya, I really felt bad for you guys. It was truly a Night of Hell. If I remember correctly, the NHC is about 10-15 miles North of where the worst part of the storm hit.

[isirota1965]

Yup.  The NHC was right in the bulls-eye, so to speak, which is why it was destroyed.

[mubd1234]

The radar fell off the building!

[btm85bubs]

WTVJ definitely had the best coverage during Andrew. I remember that the people on another station (I think it was 7) were literally freaking out on the air.

[southdude89]

oh, never mind, they had the affiliate switch in 1995.

[southdude89]

i didn't know bryan was on wtvj.

[kris6694]

Hurricane Andrew made Brian Norcross a legend in south FLA. I admire his "guarded" comments toward the outdoor weather-caster. "We have no further-use-for-your services." Classic-respectful comment. For those fearing for their lives in south-Dade county, he deserved all of the respect in the world.

[patlk]

i was 8ys old wen this Happened!

(i was in va)

[chrisz71]

My question is how in the world did they stay on the air during that, how did their transmitter not topple, who still had power during this monster, and most importantly, who was smart enough to remember to record this?! God Bless em for thinking ahead!!

[CatThatHasNoName]

To answer your last question, I don't know if anyone was recording this when it originally aired-this video comes from a compilation video that was released in South Florida shortly after the storm.

[kris6694]

I graduated w/ my meteorology degree from Penn State in '96, and I knew Andrew quite well from following the story from Pennsylvania. Living in Broward County in the early part of this decade introduced me to Brian Norcross from CBS-4. He deserved all of the accolades he recieved. Job well done!

[miamihurricane555]

@CatThatHasNoName don't forget they weren't in the worst of it they only had Cat 1 conditions

[0814ma]

@chrisz71 WTVJ's coverage was simulcast by a local radio station.

My family was watching it on a battery-operated TV. I remember two stations stayed on the air - 4 and 7. The people on 7 were freaking out.

[Legend0789]

I was a toddler during Andrew and watching WTVJ in the Grove

[AdamJ617]

I remember watching this station's coverage as a kid. This was when TVJ was really in its prime.

[puck220]

Without even a trace of a doubt, WTVJ has the best coverage of Hurricane Andrew out of all the television stations in Florida - in fact, they were on the air all during this monstrous storm - that shows their level of commitment to helping the residents of South Florida...God Bless 'em.