I moved from South Florida,July 5th of that same year, just before Andrew hit. Friends in Fort Lauderdale said that they huddled in their bathroom all night. They could hear the nails comming off of the roof, and they had never been so frightened in all their life. "They just knew they were gonna die". Christmas of that same year, I went to visit, and southwest Miami was still a wreck. The entire side of what appeared to be a gas station, was completely gone. If some only knew....
Now this is what you call a REAL hurricane! Not the media-hyped storms you get now. Andrew makes hurricane Irene and others look like a walk in the park in comparison.
I was in cutler ridge for this storm. Very old house. Standed up to the storm great. Had no yard left though lol. I will never forget the feeling coming outside after the storm. Only other people who have been through some type of disater know what I'm saying.
@203066111 i had a buddy down in N Fla city/W homestead and the only way his family survived was in a upright bathtub..rest of the 3000/sqft was taken out.
@203066111 Agreed. I was in Kendall, a few blocks from the Dadeland South Station at the time. The feeling of stepping outside and not recognizing the place you've lived in all your life is impossible to describe to someone who has never experienced it.
@203066111 I agree leave you speechless. There is really not words to describe that night. Only thing is that you realize that you are nothing compared to mother nature. Sometimes I come back here to remember.
Closely listen to an Inception dvd made prior to the January the 8th Tucson shooting, especially around the dialogue, "Do It." Check my quotes for more information.
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” John (ch. III, v. 8)
I cryed all night, I was raised in Cutler Ridge and I knew my childhood was being blown away. Then it went into the gulf and was headed for where I was currently living. I remember my Mom saying I am starting to take this storm personally. Then Aug 2005 came and it was personal!
Y pensar que me fui de ahi, el dia 22-08 en el ultimo vuelo de aerolineas argentinas a media noche, menos mal que tenia el pasaje que lo habia comprado hacia 2 meses. Ese dia, la gente en los comercios, me comentaba que se iban todos por lo que se venia y me decian, que menos mal que me voy. Bueno, es el destino, quizas, si me quedaba, me la hubiera pasado sacando fotos, pero me toco venir justo.
@candycaneloly hurricane because its a hurricane but n the us not sure if ur from here or not.. sorry they name hurricanes they ahve a whole list of em!!
Good video, but unfortunately I have never found a video of Andrew where it hit more directly which was further south than where this was filmed. It was so strong that people were more interested in staying alive than filming. There was no possible way to open a door or be outside with sustained winds exceeding 160mph, you would be blown away. Plus it was during the night. I was north of its maximum & the noises were horrifying. I have never heard a good audio recording. It was a GIANT TORNADO.
My grandad died in this hurricane i was 2 years old and i remember going to his funeral at 2 but thats the only thing i remember about being a baby thanks for posting this i followed hurricanes after opal i never was really into cartoons i watched the weather chennel allot when i was young my parents didnt know why
@BrianFalconsFan29 Sorry aout your grandfather. I wasnt born while that happend but it was waaay worser in the 1940's. A hurricane came and destroyed cities like Pahokee,Belle Glade, and West Palm Beach. It was worser then New Orleans. The dike at Lake Okechobee overflooded. Imagine that! And the whole lake flooded the county. Its a graveyard down here. Bones are still being found till this day. Its crazy.
I was in a house in Cutler Ridge at 188 st. I no longer try to describe that storm to anyone. You cannot describe the indescribable. The sound of that storm still haunts me
The noise in the middle of the video gives me the chills....I was 10 years old when Andrew hit and did not think I would live to be 11. I remember strange noises, the whistling wind, and transformers blowing outside....The attic door was about to fly off---we had to move to the closet. And in the midst of this chaos, and old friend of my parent's from Chicago called on the land line to ask how we were!!
I was 11 years old when Hurricane Andrew struck south Florida. I lived in the area where the eye of the storm passed over; Homestead, FL. I could remember my ears popping at around 3:00am and things hitting our house constantly. The whistling sound of the wind sorta like a runway train. I was laying down on the floor and could see outside the window was dark but I remember the sky suddenly turned green and pink and the wind got stronger, I believe many tornadoes was in that storm!
@wizloon No, the worst part of the storm hit Cutler Ridge, now known as Cutler Bay. That is about 15 miles south of downtown Miami and 15 miles north of Homestead.
I've been in 100 MPH winds with Hurricane Charley and Jeanne and 80 MPH Winds during Hurricane Frances. 100 MPH was bad enough and I can only imagine how bad 150+ MPH would be in a Hurricane like Andrew.
@Musclevideofreak But a tornado can be, locally, many times more destructive than even the world's strongest hurricane. The one that hit Oklahoma City in May 1999 had winds of 318 miles per hour, which is a bit more than 1.5 times faster and about 3 times more destructive than the maximum wind gusts in Andrew's eye wall. Winds of that magnitude (318 miles per hour) will level brick homes right to the ground and even heavily damage steel reinforced concrete buildings.
@tatomuck18 300 mph winds are exceedingly rare, and the winds in hurricane Andrew would fall under "violent" under the enhanced Fujita Scale gusts as high as 210- 220 mph with susstained winds > 160 mph....
Cyclone Olivia in 1996 produced a 254 mph gust and several other gusts > 200 mph btw
My son Andrew was a yr. old when this hit. My father who lived in florida at the time was visiting and getting ready to go back down....I told him his flight would be cancelled and to plan on having my sister bring him back from the airport! He told me that wouldn't happen! About an hour later...my sister brought him back to my house! LOL I was living in PA and knew he wouldn't get a flight down there!
yall talkin bout who filmed wat wen this video is about the damage n the lost we had i went throw it n lived it n i gotta say i dont wish anything like this to anybody miami was neva the same after andrew
Thank you sooo much for posting this.. i was just a boy in 3rd grade when this hit but this impacted our lives more than anything before or sinse this happened and i have lost our orriginal vhs of this production but glad to see this again.. fyi we were in the Kendall area
@ssmarcos4 Not really most of the cost came from New Orleans destruction don't forget that the core of damage was only 30 mile across Katrina's was well over 150 miles across
OMG. I was 8 yrs old when this happened. Wind was hallowing and debris flying everywhere. Power went out of course. It was bad in itself. However Katrina was far more worse than Andrew. I remember this as if it just happened yesterday.
I remember being on Miami Beach near Lincoln Road Mall and at 12 midnight the wind was so strong I could not physically stand up and went upstairs. Ironically most of my neighbors were evacuated to South Miami where Andrew hit worse. Can't predict mother nature.
You definatley have the best live footage of Andrew on You Tube, but I must say, your cameras audio, mixed with your location, just doesnt capture the sheer terrifying sounds from that fateful night. Imagine a speeding frieght train, running right thru your house, and the screaming sounds like those zombie things in I am Legend which was the wind. Then add the sounds of all of your stuff smashing in the dark...then you may begin to sort of understand.
@StoneCold75 That's exactly what a hurricane sounds like. Perfect description. I went through Isabel and while no ceilings were torn off, you could feel the house being ready to collapse.
I remember that 2X4 in the Palm Tree!!! The winds did some crazy things during that storm...I've never looked at Hurricanes in quite the same way after Andrew came through. It was a wake up call for all of us.
I was twelve i took shelter at a school in miami the next thng you you know i volunteered to help with the crossinguards the the roof flys of the second floor
I always feel like that too. I'm from Wisconsin, I've always wanted to be close to a hurricane. But than again I had my house destroyed by an F5 tornado once and that wasn't too fun lol
@lpycb42 agreed, I have been through all of the Miami storms since Donna in 1960 (I was 3 months old), and by far Andrew was the worst, with Wilma being the 2nd worst.
Warren was indeed with me during this chase. At the time, he had been primarily focused on thunderstorm and lightning photography, and he also ran a stock photo company that sold weather photos. I had been chasing hurricanes for several years at that point and Warren had been marketing a few of my stills. When Andrew was approaching, Warren decided to fly to Florida and chase (I believe this was his first hurricane). I shot both video and stills, I believe Warren shot stills only.
Well, it would have made my life a whole lot easier editing the Andrew footage. Since the transport mechanism was damaged, the tape was sliding up and down over the video head while recording. That resulted in long periods of distorted video with static, making much of the originals unusable. Since 8mm didn't have a tracking adjustment (like VHS), I wound up taking the SP7 apart and manually adjusting the tape position to get the video to play while I dubbed off a master on another camcorder.
That sounds really terrible what you described happened to your camera. Does that mean that if you ever get the clip on DVD that what I see here on youtube is the only video of Andrew that would be on DVD?
Luckily no. Since I was able to manually adjust the tape position while dubbing master copies from each original, I recovered about 90% of the footage I shot (I have a total of about 10 hours). This clip is just a low-quality, digital conversion of an old edit I did years ago. Once I re-master and restore my footage, the new DVD will likely include many different and previously unreleased scenes with much higher video and audio quality, along with a lot of extras and special features.
@vmax135 When you will the DVD be out? I would be interested in obtaining a copy if possible. I would pay you for it. You have the best footage I have ever seen of Hurricane Andrew. I posted a few comments on this video under my old username (Delta767300ER)
Hey vmax, I'll tell you what, I looked at a picture of this camcorder and I LOVED its design, and I really like the format of tape it uses (Video8). By the way, what was the name of your friend's camcorder?
Yeah... with the built-on, water resistant, sports body, the SP7 was ideally suited for storm chasing. It was definitely one of my favorite camcorders. I can't remember the make or model of the camcorder I borrowed for my post-Andrew damage shots... I was more concerned with just being able to go document the damage. That said, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Sony.
Hi Gavin - Yes... all the footage up to 24:30 in this clip was recorded on the SP7. The last few minutes of the clip were shot on a friend's camcorder since the SP7 was seriously malfunctioning after it was knocked over. Although edited out of this clip, the point that the tripod was knocked over was around 11:40.
The very last scene with the wood that went through the palm tree really exemplies the POWER of 160+ mph winds. I am sorry to see all the damage and flooding to your home. I remember being up the entire night holding the door to stop it from blowing in. Luckily the door held and our boarded windows held up. We were spared heavy damage but alot of our neighbors didn't fare as well. This storm was truly one for the history books.
Vmax was very lucky to live in a reinforced concrete house. He may have had water damage and patches of missing roof shingles, but the house itself stood firm. There were thousands of homes that did not fare anywhere near as well and some were torn completely down to the bare foundation by Andrew's exceptionally intense winds. Many people had literally not a single scrap of a roof over their heads after Andrew.
I was awaken by the air that was violently sucked out of my bedroom, at first I thought that the window had shattered and that I did not hear the break, it took me a little while to realize the hurricane pulled my window off my house including the frame right out of the wall. I spent the next hours in a closet down the hall. It was not as scary as I thought it would be. The most annoying thing is the whistling of the winds hour after hour. I wanted to stuff pillows in my ears.
I was on vacation in southern florida visting my grandparents. All of a sudden, the news got real serious, and everyone started boarding up their windows. Pretty terrifying...we were staying on the 7th floor in their condo and I was convinced the whole time that the roof would blow off and we would be sucked out and fall to our deaths. I don't think I have a more vivid memory of anything else from childhood. Hurricane Bill is making a close pass to me tommorow in MA. worried it might hit.
In addition, that wind at around 15:00 or so really looked to me like it was at least 150 miles per hour. Not to mention especially the way that palm tree was blowing and whipping around while they were shining the light on it.
Also, the garage where this video was taken was hit by the storm's right hand side, and with that side blowing wind onshore and with only maybe 500 feet of land and only a couple of buildings between the garage and the ocean (Biscayne Bay) to cause any friction for the offshore side of the storm, that would have been one of the perfect areas to experience some of Andrew's top wind speeds.
Wow. I was not here for Andrew, but i've heard many stories from people, even in my own family of being perhaps the most terrifying experience in their lives. I agree with whoever said watching the video is nothing compared to actually being there, i've been in a few hurricanes myself, and i know there's nothing like beign in that moment that can freak you out more. I don't think i can imagine what it must have been like to experience something as strong as this.
According to Google maps, this place where they rode out Andrew was actually 2 miles due east of the National Hurricane Center, which measured a 164 mile per hour gust before the anemometer broke, the same gust which also tore the radar off the roof. And considering that Andrew was moving due west, that garage had to have gotten winds of at least 150 to 175 miles per hour, especially due to it's location of around just 500 feet or so from the ocean.
man i wish someone would put up a vid of hurricane andrew in louisiana. i was about three months old when it happened, and the eye of it made landfall in my hometown around morgan city, louisiana. i just wanna see what it was like since i dont really remember anything from it.
max i lived in miami in cocanut grove in 2004-05. on thomas ave. was it near there. i remember coco walk jonnie rockets. the yacth club area. nice vid.
i wasnt quite 4 when i was in andrew...but i was in louisiana...it was still pretty damn nasty the wind....but the worst of it for us was definately the flooding
i was a senior in high school during andrews, first of all i hated being without power for a whole month, but then the rain and humidity killed it goddamn i dont like those days!!!
I went though this Hurricane and yes still have problems with storms now because of it it was a horrible storm to go though and the damage was unbelievable you can watch the video and say wow thats horrible but unless u actually went though it you have no idea
All I can say is 'RESPECT'. If this doesn't make someone respect mother nature, I doubt anything else will. This was scary enough to watch, It had to be even more so to experience it first hand. Thanks for posting this.
@DBarns7 I completely agree I was living on Miami Beach and I was 19 and you get the sense that you are nothing compared to a storm like this. It was crazy because alot of people were evacuated off of Miami Beach to South Miami because they thought they could predict and control mother nature.
Wow! I can't begin to imagine what you must have been through. This video is the closest that I've been to hurricane of this strength, and hopefully the closest I ever come.
Yeah... all of those flashes were indeed lightning (cloud to cloud). That said, there was no audible thunder. The sound you're hearing is likely just wind noise directly on the camera's microphone.
If I had to guess the sustained winds at landfall with this storm were probably 155 mph. They said at the time 145 mph sustained and later on they say 165 mph sustained. They must have had a reason for the initial 145 mph rating. So my guess is the winds were somewhere in between.
In all likelihood, Andrew's sustained winds at landfall in South Florida were probably even higher than the current estimate of 165mph. The original 145 was heavily based on accepted pressure-wind relationship, at that time. Since then, a lot of additional information has become available, which led the re-analysis committe to up the winds in 2002. Since then, more data (especially during Felix in 2007) suggests that Andrew might have had sustained winds closer to 175mph at landfall in Florida.
Felix did turn that fateful drop into an "upsonde" and also a "sidesonde" for awhile...lol. But yeah, between 0Z and 6z on Sep. 3, 2008. the NOAA recon measured 163kt (188mph) surface winds in the northeast eyewall using the SFMR and the sonde measured 195kt (225mph) at 120m, before being abruptly thrown into the eye. These observations along with the flight level data, were the reason NHC upgraded Felix's peak intensity to 150kt (170mph), which even they say may be conservative!
hard to believe were coming up on almost 20 yrs since this disaster... hope to never experience again. I still remember seeing the transformers blowing, thinking it was lightning, of course, being 17 yrs younger not knowing... just being terrified.
hurricane andrew was a devastating hurricane in landfall at homestead miami florida however the closest hurricane to ever come to us and indeed if it would have happen it would have been worst than andrew, was hurricane floyd, third would be hurricane ike, wilma doesnt count because it came by the gulf coast.
Bottom line...I have been in 18 landfalling hurricanes...Andrew was the worst storm to hit this country...period. Katrina was all water being pushed in. Andrew was a nuclear bomb going off. I will never forget it.
I lived and still live in a house 0.6 miles away from the airforce base. It was built in 1926 and god only knows how we didnt lose the house. only had a few shingles missing, but i remember hearing the tornados outside on our 4 acre property. we lost all our trees and every house around us was leveled....we were without power for 3months.
@moonbaby0719 And be it considering hurricane Andrew came inland as a category 5 while Katrina leveled down to a category 3 when it hit inland still causing water to rush into great speeds giving it pressure causing the levees to break down which then caused flood damage.
@tudssquadbuisness You are absolutely right. Katrina was a weaker hurricane, but it was bigger and so it had a bigger storm surge. Hurricane Andrew did not cause a big storm surge. The storm surge was propably relatively small compared to Katrina. The storm surge from Andrew just went over this mansion/estate and I don't think anyone was there at the time. Because Katrina was so big it was pushing alot more water, that and the levees caused a disaster.
@FuLuShouXi also the topography of the ocean floor was more conducive along the LA/MS coast compared to Biscayne bay peak surge with Katrina 27ft Andrew 17ft
I find myself coming back to look at this sometimes. I like it because you did such a good job of capturing the south FL atmosphere in late summer, the day before Andrew came ashore. It's too bad that it was night when it peaked. This would've made the vid even better!
No, because In Mississippi, it had a Historic storm surge of up to 32 feet high... Locations from New Orleans all the way to Mobile, AL were devastated by the Surge
Its very, very rare to have a tornado imbedded in the eyewall.... Remember, this was a Category 5 hurricane... Wind gusts were equivalent to winds found in EF 5 tornadoes.. Fujita estimated a gust of 214 mph near Cuttler Ridge
AMAZING!!! This is hands down THE BEST hurricane footage I'VE ever seen! These are life changing events. I thank you for posting this video. I hope it convinces someone to evacuate if ever they are faced with that choice.
i was there in katraina it was fucking scary it made me poop in my pants
julianmck1 1 month ago
at the beging
julianmck1 1 month ago
andrew is catagory 5 or 4 i think i saw tornado in this video forming
julianmck1 1 month ago
I moved from South Florida,July 5th of that same year, just before Andrew hit. Friends in Fort Lauderdale said that they huddled in their bathroom all night. They could hear the nails comming off of the roof, and they had never been so frightened in all their life. "They just knew they were gonna die". Christmas of that same year, I went to visit, and southwest Miami was still a wreck. The entire side of what appeared to be a gas station, was completely gone. If some only knew....
vancechristopher 3 months ago
holy crap! that wind is amazing! this is a great video! GOOD JOB!
kelstar1967 4 months ago
Comment removed
danw1374 4 months ago
oh i thought this would be i louisiana lol
luigifire1001 4 months ago
Now this is what you call a REAL hurricane! Not the media-hyped storms you get now. Andrew makes hurricane Irene and others look like a walk in the park in comparison.
philip120683 5 months ago 2
305 represent
reygisperado 5 months ago
This huricane made Irene look like good weather to fly a kite.
birdie068 5 months ago
that type of hurricane is called hurricane catagory 5
yoron13yo 5 months ago 2
Looks windy.
leafyutube 5 months ago
Holy Smokes at 10:00
moose030406 5 months ago
I was in cutler ridge for this storm. Very old house. Standed up to the storm great. Had no yard left though lol. I will never forget the feeling coming outside after the storm. Only other people who have been through some type of disater know what I'm saying.
203066111 6 months ago 2
@203066111 i had a buddy down in N Fla city/W homestead and the only way his family survived was in a upright bathtub..rest of the 3000/sqft was taken out.
irunthe561 5 months ago
@203066111 Agreed. I was in Kendall, a few blocks from the Dadeland South Station at the time. The feeling of stepping outside and not recognizing the place you've lived in all your life is impossible to describe to someone who has never experienced it.
rachelthedemon 5 months ago
@203066111 I agree leave you speechless. There is really not words to describe that night. Only thing is that you realize that you are nothing compared to mother nature. Sometimes I come back here to remember.
FuLuShouXi 5 months ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Closely listen to an Inception dvd made prior to the January the 8th Tucson shooting, especially around the dialogue, "Do It." Check my quotes for more information.
jamestargetedindiv 6 months ago
“The wind bloweth where it listeth, and thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the Spirit.” John (ch. III, v. 8)
dyad2r1 7 months ago
That was amazing!! And it was only less than a half hour of storm!.
I went thru Hurricane Celia in 1970 and saw debris going sideways and never want to see that intensity of storm ever again.
Wind gauge broke at Corpus Christi airport at 165 or so mph.
If I can, I would leave if a big storm were coming my way.
Amazing that you rode that out.
Nuts of steel my friend.
FAST70442 7 months ago
I cryed all night, I was raised in Cutler Ridge and I knew my childhood was being blown away. Then it went into the gulf and was headed for where I was currently living. I remember my Mom saying I am starting to take this storm personally. Then Aug 2005 came and it was personal!
lrichardson1206 8 months ago
i was living in Florida when this hit us
TheRob1193 9 months ago
Y pensar que me fui de ahi, el dia 22-08 en el ultimo vuelo de aerolineas argentinas a media noche, menos mal que tenia el pasaje que lo habia comprado hacia 2 meses. Ese dia, la gente en los comercios, me comentaba que se iban todos por lo que se venia y me decian, que menos mal que me voy. Bueno, es el destino, quizas, si me quedaba, me la hubiera pasado sacando fotos, pero me toco venir justo.
MICHITO62 1 year ago
y did they call it hurricane andrew
candycaneloly 1 year ago
@candycaneloly hurricane because its a hurricane but n the us not sure if ur from here or not.. sorry they name hurricanes they ahve a whole list of em!!
robby123ism 10 months ago
@robby123ism im from new jersey
candycaneloly 10 months ago
@candycaneloly i just said im not sure if u were or not
robby123ism 10 months ago
The worst hurricane ever in the history of of Florida...
terminator6267 1 year ago
This is the storm that caused the insurance industry to change their practices...
RiderAndKallen 1 year ago
Good video, but unfortunately I have never found a video of Andrew where it hit more directly which was further south than where this was filmed. It was so strong that people were more interested in staying alive than filming. There was no possible way to open a door or be outside with sustained winds exceeding 160mph, you would be blown away. Plus it was during the night. I was north of its maximum & the noises were horrifying. I have never heard a good audio recording. It was a GIANT TORNADO.
lazarochavez1 1 year ago
I was going to be named Andrew but when they named this hurricane that name they changed it
38Camando 1 year ago
My grandad died in this hurricane i was 2 years old and i remember going to his funeral at 2 but thats the only thing i remember about being a baby thanks for posting this i followed hurricanes after opal i never was really into cartoons i watched the weather chennel allot when i was young my parents didnt know why
BrianFalconsFan29 1 year ago
@BrianFalconsFan29 Sorry aout your grandfather. I wasnt born while that happend but it was waaay worser in the 1940's. A hurricane came and destroyed cities like Pahokee,Belle Glade, and West Palm Beach. It was worser then New Orleans. The dike at Lake Okechobee overflooded. Imagine that! And the whole lake flooded the county. Its a graveyard down here. Bones are still being found till this day. Its crazy.
TreyBo561 1 year ago
@TreyBo561 worser isnt a word
robby123ism 10 months ago
I was in a house in Cutler Ridge at 188 st. I no longer try to describe that storm to anyone. You cannot describe the indescribable. The sound of that storm still haunts me
shitbox99 1 year ago
ice and water lines. MRE's anyone?
defectedyouth 1 year ago
Fucking ice and water lines. MRE's anyone?
defectedyouth 1 year ago
The noise in the middle of the video gives me the chills....I was 10 years old when Andrew hit and did not think I would live to be 11. I remember strange noises, the whistling wind, and transformers blowing outside....The attic door was about to fly off---we had to move to the closet. And in the midst of this chaos, and old friend of my parent's from Chicago called on the land line to ask how we were!!
kas2831 1 year ago
I was 11 years old when Hurricane Andrew struck south Florida. I lived in the area where the eye of the storm passed over; Homestead, FL. I could remember my ears popping at around 3:00am and things hitting our house constantly. The whistling sound of the wind sorta like a runway train. I was laying down on the floor and could see outside the window was dark but I remember the sky suddenly turned green and pink and the wind got stronger, I believe many tornadoes was in that storm!
2prince2ster 1 year ago
You were nowhere near Ground Zero. Looks like South Beach. Maybe even The Fountainbleu Hotel. You were safe. Others (many) died!
wizloon 1 year ago
@wizloon No, the worst part of the storm hit Cutler Ridge, now known as Cutler Bay. That is about 15 miles south of downtown Miami and 15 miles north of Homestead.
Musclevideofreak 1 year ago
I've been in 100 MPH winds with Hurricane Charley and Jeanne and 80 MPH Winds during Hurricane Frances. 100 MPH was bad enough and I can only imagine how bad 150+ MPH would be in a Hurricane like Andrew.
Peugeot908HDIFAP 1 year ago
If you think thats bad, try 300+ MPH in a tornado!
tatomuck18 1 year ago
@tatomuck18 Dude a tornado lasts for maybe 2 minutes, a hurricane for hours, like 4 or 5. Hurricanes are worse, not even close.
Musclevideofreak 1 year ago
@Musclevideofreak But a tornado can be, locally, many times more destructive than even the world's strongest hurricane. The one that hit Oklahoma City in May 1999 had winds of 318 miles per hour, which is a bit more than 1.5 times faster and about 3 times more destructive than the maximum wind gusts in Andrew's eye wall. Winds of that magnitude (318 miles per hour) will level brick homes right to the ground and even heavily damage steel reinforced concrete buildings.
triton115 8 months ago
@tatomuck18 300 mph winds are exceedingly rare, and the winds in hurricane Andrew would fall under "violent" under the enhanced Fujita Scale gusts as high as 210- 220 mph with susstained winds > 160 mph....
Cyclone Olivia in 1996 produced a 254 mph gust and several other gusts > 200 mph btw
liquidstl 8 months ago
ooh mee geee i was 9 months old when this happend! thank god we lived in the redlands the house stayed up
ThePinkbunny91 1 year ago
ooh mee geee i was 9 months old when this happend! thank god we lived in the redlands the house stayed up
ThePinkbunny91 1 year ago
My son Andrew was a yr. old when this hit. My father who lived in florida at the time was visiting and getting ready to go back down....I told him his flight would be cancelled and to plan on having my sister bring him back from the airport! He told me that wouldn't happen! About an hour later...my sister brought him back to my house! LOL I was living in PA and knew he wouldn't get a flight down there!
averyhotmama 1 year ago
18 yrs ago today...yikes.
TXNole10 1 year ago
Reguardless of which hurricane was worse, victims of both andrew and katrina went through a lot.
Crimson811 1 year ago
This video gives me chills. I can't believe my mom was seven months pregnant with me when she went through this.
kaileyy07 1 year ago
yall talkin bout who filmed wat wen this video is about the damage n the lost we had i went throw it n lived it n i gotta say i dont wish anything like this to anybody miami was neva the same after andrew
TheChinita305 1 year ago
I was 3 and I remember going to the door to open it and the front screen door just flew off..OMG it was so scary but I was a bad kid back then
babygfeva 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
Thank you sooo much for posting this.. i was just a boy in 3rd grade when this hit but this impacted our lives more than anything before or sinse this happened and i have lost our orriginal vhs of this production but glad to see this again.. fyi we were in the Kendall area
fisherprice5600 1 year ago
NEVER EVER FORGET...
DaveZappa 1 year ago
Andrew was stronger but Katrina did more damage because of the storm surge.
ssmarcos4 1 year ago
@ssmarcos4 Not really most of the cost came from New Orleans destruction don't forget that the core of damage was only 30 mile across Katrina's was well over 150 miles across
miamihurricane555 1 year ago
OMG. I was 8 yrs old when this happened. Wind was hallowing and debris flying everywhere. Power went out of course. It was bad in itself. However Katrina was far more worse than Andrew. I remember this as if it just happened yesterday.
mrsdicaprio22 1 year ago
I remember being on Miami Beach near Lincoln Road Mall and at 12 midnight the wind was so strong I could not physically stand up and went upstairs. Ironically most of my neighbors were evacuated to South Miami where Andrew hit worse. Can't predict mother nature.
FuLuShouXi 1 year ago
Crazy stuff. I was in Hurricane Wilma which was a very bad category 2. Can't imagine being in a storm like Andrew.
JustDoneWaiting 1 year ago
my roof came off in this hurricane
THEKYLEMAN2 1 year ago
You definatley have the best live footage of Andrew on You Tube, but I must say, your cameras audio, mixed with your location, just doesnt capture the sheer terrifying sounds from that fateful night. Imagine a speeding frieght train, running right thru your house, and the screaming sounds like those zombie things in I am Legend which was the wind. Then add the sounds of all of your stuff smashing in the dark...then you may begin to sort of understand.
StoneCold75 1 year ago
@StoneCold75 That's exactly what a hurricane sounds like. Perfect description. I went through Isabel and while no ceilings were torn off, you could feel the house being ready to collapse.
lpycb42 1 year ago
I remember that 2X4 in the Palm Tree!!! The winds did some crazy things during that storm...I've never looked at Hurricanes in quite the same way after Andrew came through. It was a wake up call for all of us.
CHRISMM32 1 year ago
If andrew would have hit new orleans, n.o would have been off the map. i was 4 years old living in south beach i was scared as shit
Miaboy88 1 year ago
It's scary (ooooh!!!!) )-:)-:
JaeDizzley1995 1 year ago
That was no Cat 4 like they said that was a Cat 5
KJT922010T 1 year ago
Hurricane Andrew! This one is tres exciting for a vacation destination
frontporchtalker1 1 year ago
My parents were on vacation on Miami Beach during this hurricane. They remember it well.
BigTy3046 1 year ago
Scary:((((
lilgirlbabe7 1 year ago
gayy
omaridotcom 1 year ago
@omaridotcom what are you like 12 years old lol, go do your homework
Crimson811 1 year ago
i was in west palm beach when this hit...ive be through hurricanes and a tornado and i would chose a hurricane any day haha.
violented50187 1 year ago
Do hurricanes ever produce lightning and thunder?
DarkShadowRage2 1 year ago
@DarkShadowRage2 no.
milesxofxhope 1 year ago
@DarkShadowRage2 Actually, in the eyewall when they're undergoing RI (Rapid Intensification) Hurricane Hunters reported frequent lightning and hail.
EndeavourLaunch 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
24 almost over. argghh! Just saw it online at lastnightstvshows (.) com
sillybaby888 1 year ago
Sounds like your fellows were taking alot of pictures in the beginning, lol.
MedelProductions 1 year ago
I was twelve i took shelter at a school in miami the next thng you you know i volunteered to help with the crossinguards the the roof flys of the second floor
Futurespaceboy 1 year ago
this is the exact day i was born
LamboK28992 1 year ago
Resident just north of Homestead, to this day I remember 8-24-92 like it happened yesterday. Great video.
TXNole10 1 year ago
I wish i could feel closer to a hurricane, be one maybe, i just like how a hurricane coming feels. i also like their looks ! :D
DrNeur0tic 1 year ago
I always feel like that too. I'm from Wisconsin, I've always wanted to be close to a hurricane. But than again I had my house destroyed by an F5 tornado once and that wasn't too fun lol
skitchdrews 1 year ago
@skitchdrews no you do not want to be close to a hurricane. Trust.
lpycb42 1 year ago
@lpycb42 agreed, I have been through all of the Miami storms since Donna in 1960 (I was 3 months old), and by far Andrew was the worst, with Wilma being the 2nd worst.
Musclevideofreak 1 year ago
At 11:05 it looks like it daylight but still Hurricane Andrew visiting the Southeast Florida at night.
JaeDizzley1995 1 year ago
i wasn't even alive !
cuteii0032 1 year ago
@cuteii0032 I was 10 years old when andrew hit florida, I went into my brothers room and slept on his floor because I was scared shitless
Crimson811 1 year ago
dont ride out a storm like a catergory 5 hurricane
TheShozaya 1 year ago
Homestead resident back then..I was 17.. Never will forget that night. Great video work, 13:45 to 17:00 was brutal..
StoneCold75 2 years ago
But the book i read said Warren Faidly went in a parking garage and took turns taping it with his friends.
IM CONFUZED! plz explain
celeblover123321 2 years ago
Warren was indeed with me during this chase. At the time, he had been primarily focused on thunderstorm and lightning photography, and he also ran a stock photo company that sold weather photos. I had been chasing hurricanes for several years at that point and Warren had been marketing a few of my stills. When Andrew was approaching, Warren decided to fly to Florida and chase (I believe this was his first hurricane). I shot both video and stills, I believe Warren shot stills only.
vmax135 2 years ago
@vmax135 Okay, thanks! My teachers are proud of me for figuring this out!
celeblover123321 1 year ago
Comment removed
coolnick52 3 months ago
Comment removed
coolnick52 3 months ago
woahh That was stupid of me.
I mistaked you with Warren Faidly.
Sowy..
celeblover123321 2 years ago
oh and Just so you know who i am!
its mina.
shoutout: MRS HILL AND ROBINSON ARE AWESOME!!!!!!
celeblover123321 2 years ago
So, Your Warren Faidly?
we learned about this at school heh
WARREN IS AWESOME!
shoutout to Kim Hill and Ola: Heyy!!
loves you!!
celeblover123321 2 years ago
we hada blown down picked fence and thats about it lol
ninendowii2000 2 years ago
This video takes me back to the days..
tealmarlin 2 years ago
You're from Nepal?
kennyken0098 2 years ago
Comment removed
MedelProductions 2 years ago
8/24/92. Never forget. Lived on Coral Way and 122nd Avenue during Andrew. We got lucky with minor roof damage and a blown open door.
DjarumPoonanny 2 years ago
Futhermore, what would you do if the Sony CCD-SP7 Handycam Sports still worked through Hurricane Andrew and on?
MedelProductions 2 years ago
Well, it would have made my life a whole lot easier editing the Andrew footage. Since the transport mechanism was damaged, the tape was sliding up and down over the video head while recording. That resulted in long periods of distorted video with static, making much of the originals unusable. Since 8mm didn't have a tracking adjustment (like VHS), I wound up taking the SP7 apart and manually adjusting the tape position to get the video to play while I dubbed off a master on another camcorder.
vmax135 2 years ago
That sounds really terrible what you described happened to your camera. Does that mean that if you ever get the clip on DVD that what I see here on youtube is the only video of Andrew that would be on DVD?
triton115 2 years ago
Luckily no. Since I was able to manually adjust the tape position while dubbing master copies from each original, I recovered about 90% of the footage I shot (I have a total of about 10 hours). This clip is just a low-quality, digital conversion of an old edit I did years ago. Once I re-master and restore my footage, the new DVD will likely include many different and previously unreleased scenes with much higher video and audio quality, along with a lot of extras and special features.
vmax135 2 years ago
@vmax135 When you will the DVD be out? I would be interested in obtaining a copy if possible. I would pay you for it. You have the best footage I have ever seen of Hurricane Andrew. I posted a few comments on this video under my old username (Delta767300ER)
Peugeot908HDIFAP 1 year ago
Hey vmax, I'll tell you what, I looked at a picture of this camcorder and I LOVED its design, and I really like the format of tape it uses (Video8). By the way, what was the name of your friend's camcorder?
MedelProductions 2 years ago
Yeah... with the built-on, water resistant, sports body, the SP7 was ideally suited for storm chasing. It was definitely one of my favorite camcorders. I can't remember the make or model of the camcorder I borrowed for my post-Andrew damage shots... I was more concerned with just being able to go document the damage. That said, I'm pretty sure it wasn't a Sony.
vmax135 2 years ago
Hey, didn't you record this with your Sony CCD-SP7 Handycam Sports and it broke in this storm?
MedelProductions 2 years ago
Hi Gavin - Yes... all the footage up to 24:30 in this clip was recorded on the SP7. The last few minutes of the clip were shot on a friend's camcorder since the SP7 was seriously malfunctioning after it was knocked over. Although edited out of this clip, the point that the tripod was knocked over was around 11:40.
vmax135 2 years ago
im soo glad i wasn't livin yett bt my mother always tell me how bad it was and how hard it was to survive without water and food!
ladyNiNi305 2 years ago
its crazy i still remember everything n i was only 4
karamels2009 2 years ago
I was little when Andrew hit miami it was scaryyyyy
kinkyale21 2 years ago
The roof flew of of the school im serious...it was horrible
Futurespaceboy 2 years ago
and i thought that the weather in england was bad
KarimaBegum786 2 years ago
we got Ike last year so I'm glad it has calmed this year.once every 20 years or so is enough for me.
8thEastTexasBlues 2 years ago
el nino is really affecting the hurricanes this year and especially in the gulf of mexico
8thEastTexasBlues 2 years ago
The very last scene with the wood that went through the palm tree really exemplies the POWER of 160+ mph winds. I am sorry to see all the damage and flooding to your home. I remember being up the entire night holding the door to stop it from blowing in. Luckily the door held and our boarded windows held up. We were spared heavy damage but alot of our neighbors didn't fare as well. This storm was truly one for the history books.
koodos2123 2 years ago 2
Replying to koodos2123's post.
Vmax was very lucky to live in a reinforced concrete house. He may have had water damage and patches of missing roof shingles, but the house itself stood firm. There were thousands of homes that did not fare anywhere near as well and some were torn completely down to the bare foundation by Andrew's exceptionally intense winds. Many people had literally not a single scrap of a roof over their heads after Andrew.
triton115 2 years ago
Did the eye wall come through this part of Miami?
ILovestorms 2 years ago
I was awaken by the air that was violently sucked out of my bedroom, at first I thought that the window had shattered and that I did not hear the break, it took me a little while to realize the hurricane pulled my window off my house including the frame right out of the wall. I spent the next hours in a closet down the hall. It was not as scary as I thought it would be. The most annoying thing is the whistling of the winds hour after hour. I wanted to stuff pillows in my ears.
sl1ker 2 years ago
I was on vacation in southern florida visting my grandparents. All of a sudden, the news got real serious, and everyone started boarding up their windows. Pretty terrifying...we were staying on the 7th floor in their condo and I was convinced the whole time that the roof would blow off and we would be sucked out and fall to our deaths. I don't think I have a more vivid memory of anything else from childhood. Hurricane Bill is making a close pass to me tommorow in MA. worried it might hit.
tubict 2 years ago
In addition, that wind at around 15:00 or so really looked to me like it was at least 150 miles per hour. Not to mention especially the way that palm tree was blowing and whipping around while they were shining the light on it.
triton115 2 years ago
Also, the garage where this video was taken was hit by the storm's right hand side, and with that side blowing wind onshore and with only maybe 500 feet of land and only a couple of buildings between the garage and the ocean (Biscayne Bay) to cause any friction for the offshore side of the storm, that would have been one of the perfect areas to experience some of Andrew's top wind speeds.
triton115 2 years ago
my moms honey moon they got awesome pictures they got on the last flight out of south flordia
Cheerrules10102 2 years ago
I help with The Red Cross, one bag of ICE went for $10.00. shame
eventvisionsinc 2 years ago
Wow. I was not here for Andrew, but i've heard many stories from people, even in my own family of being perhaps the most terrifying experience in their lives. I agree with whoever said watching the video is nothing compared to actually being there, i've been in a few hurricanes myself, and i know there's nothing like beign in that moment that can freak you out more. I don't think i can imagine what it must have been like to experience something as strong as this.
Mavdvillafane 2 years ago
imagine, this was in coconut grove, where winds were only cat 1 or 2. And I thought it was cat. 5 winds but that was in homestead
ajp42109 2 years ago
According to Google maps, this place where they rode out Andrew was actually 2 miles due east of the National Hurricane Center, which measured a 164 mile per hour gust before the anemometer broke, the same gust which also tore the radar off the roof. And considering that Andrew was moving due west, that garage had to have gotten winds of at least 150 to 175 miles per hour, especially due to it's location of around just 500 feet or so from the ocean.
triton115 2 years ago
man i wish someone would put up a vid of hurricane andrew in louisiana. i was about three months old when it happened, and the eye of it made landfall in my hometown around morgan city, louisiana. i just wanna see what it was like since i dont really remember anything from it.
mjfrancis526 2 years ago
max i lived in miami in cocanut grove in 2004-05. on thomas ave. was it near there. i remember coco walk jonnie rockets. the yacth club area. nice vid.
peteboy1113 2 years ago
I was a baby in my crib...sleeping.
xXRocker91Xx 2 years ago
Doesn't work!
heavenlyangellourdes 2 years ago
i wasnt quite 4 when i was in andrew...but i was in louisiana...it was still pretty damn nasty the wind....but the worst of it for us was definately the flooding
iluvamedic 2 years ago
i was a senior in high school during andrews, first of all i hated being without power for a whole month, but then the rain and humidity killed it goddamn i dont like those days!!!
mmando07 2 years ago
I went though this Hurricane and yes still have problems with storms now because of it it was a horrible storm to go though and the damage was unbelievable you can watch the video and say wow thats horrible but unless u actually went though it you have no idea
miranda19782009 2 years ago 2
Miranda, I went through Andrew, I also have problems with Hurricanes to this day. Andrew was something I will NEVER forget. I was 9 when it hit.
TXNole10 2 years ago
All I can say is 'RESPECT'. If this doesn't make someone respect mother nature, I doubt anything else will. This was scary enough to watch, It had to be even more so to experience it first hand. Thanks for posting this.
DBarns7 2 years ago
@DBarns7 I completely agree I was living on Miami Beach and I was 19 and you get the sense that you are nothing compared to a storm like this. It was crazy because alot of people were evacuated off of Miami Beach to South Miami because they thought they could predict and control mother nature.
FuLuShouXi 2 years ago
Wow! I can't begin to imagine what you must have been through. This video is the closest that I've been to hurricane of this strength, and hopefully the closest I ever come.
DBarns7 2 years ago
I have to ask. Were those lightning flashes from the11min mark to the 14 min mark with some rumbles of thunder?
SvstormO 2 years ago
Yeah... all of those flashes were indeed lightning (cloud to cloud). That said, there was no audible thunder. The sound you're hearing is likely just wind noise directly on the camera's microphone.
vmax135 2 years ago
The thunder was likely completely drowned out by the much louder roar of the wind.
triton115 2 years ago
good day to be in the plywood business
jgbaren 2 years ago 2
I rode it out on 160st just North of the eyewall. I could hear the tornados go by east to west. I still have PTSD when the wind blows hard.
Gorntz 2 years ago
If I had to guess the sustained winds at landfall with this storm were probably 155 mph. They said at the time 145 mph sustained and later on they say 165 mph sustained. They must have had a reason for the initial 145 mph rating. So my guess is the winds were somewhere in between.
palavos3 2 years ago
In all likelihood, Andrew's sustained winds at landfall in South Florida were probably even higher than the current estimate of 165mph. The original 145 was heavily based on accepted pressure-wind relationship, at that time. Since then, a lot of additional information has become available, which led the re-analysis committe to up the winds in 2002. Since then, more data (especially during Felix in 2007) suggests that Andrew might have had sustained winds closer to 175mph at landfall in Florida.
vmax135 2 years ago
What exactly did Felix yield in terms of data? or is that where the "upsond" measured 215 mph
liquidstl 2 years ago
Felix did turn that fateful drop into an "upsonde" and also a "sidesonde" for awhile...lol. But yeah, between 0Z and 6z on Sep. 3, 2008. the NOAA recon measured 163kt (188mph) surface winds in the northeast eyewall using the SFMR and the sonde measured 195kt (225mph) at 120m, before being abruptly thrown into the eye. These observations along with the flight level data, were the reason NHC upgraded Felix's peak intensity to 150kt (170mph), which even they say may be conservative!
vmax135 2 years ago
OMG i feel sorry for so many people now im also glad i wasn't in that
ancinc 2 years ago
i was
ug5151 2 years ago
yea i was 4 when that happen, i was to young to understand what a hurricane was but i know i was scared though
livinboys 2 years ago
A part of me died that day.
Scottwoodivers 2 years ago
the wind sound like demons..it was one of the worst night in my life.
eventvisionsinc 2 years ago
hard to believe were coming up on almost 20 yrs since this disaster... hope to never experience again. I still remember seeing the transformers blowing, thinking it was lightning, of course, being 17 yrs younger not knowing... just being terrified.
0118392 2 years ago
Thats the thing about the 1990s, 50 years from now, it will still look and seem like last year.
tealmarlin 2 years ago
hurricane andrew was a devastating hurricane in landfall at homestead miami florida however the closest hurricane to ever come to us and indeed if it would have happen it would have been worst than andrew, was hurricane floyd, third would be hurricane ike, wilma doesnt count because it came by the gulf coast.
chongaslovefrankie 2 years ago
i could not watch it all I GREW UP THE From 1963 to 1993 six family homes was lost our family has never recoverd
RCvolunteer1978 2 years ago
Another thing, hurricane andrew costed $30 billion in property damage
NBunch10 2 years ago
U should like show this to Discovery channel. This footage is insane!
Falador321 2 years ago 5
Bottom line...I have been in 18 landfalling hurricanes...Andrew was the worst storm to hit this country...period. Katrina was all water being pushed in. Andrew was a nuclear bomb going off. I will never forget it.
vaportrails44 2 years ago 12
I lived in Miami for 13 years and agree with you a million percent.
FuLuShouXi 2 years ago 5
Oh definately, Katrina wasn't that bad of a hurricane, all the damage came from flooding because of poor planning.
moonbaby0719 2 years ago 8
I lived and still live in a house 0.6 miles away from the airforce base. It was built in 1926 and god only knows how we didnt lose the house. only had a few shingles missing, but i remember hearing the tornados outside on our 4 acre property. we lost all our trees and every house around us was leveled....we were without power for 3months.
natalie5269 2 years ago 3
I lived both on base and just side of it at 15633 SW 297 Terr went to south dade class of 75
RCvolunteer1978 2 years ago
@moonbaby0719 And be it considering hurricane Andrew came inland as a category 5 while Katrina leveled down to a category 3 when it hit inland still causing water to rush into great speeds giving it pressure causing the levees to break down which then caused flood damage.
tudssquadbuisness 1 year ago
@tudssquadbuisness You are absolutely right. Katrina was a weaker hurricane, but it was bigger and so it had a bigger storm surge. Hurricane Andrew did not cause a big storm surge. The storm surge was propably relatively small compared to Katrina. The storm surge from Andrew just went over this mansion/estate and I don't think anyone was there at the time. Because Katrina was so big it was pushing alot more water, that and the levees caused a disaster.
FuLuShouXi 1 year ago
@FuLuShouXi also the topography of the ocean floor was more conducive along the LA/MS coast compared to Biscayne bay peak surge with Katrina 27ft Andrew 17ft
miamihurricane555 1 year ago
I find myself coming back to look at this sometimes. I like it because you did such a good job of capturing the south FL atmosphere in late summer, the day before Andrew came ashore. It's too bad that it was night when it peaked. This would've made the vid even better!
bootsiebanty 2 years ago
that was one of the worst hurricanes in miami lets hope we dont have a huge bad hurricane in miami
shepboy8 2 years ago
No, because In Mississippi, it had a Historic storm surge of up to 32 feet high... Locations from New Orleans all the way to Mobile, AL were devastated by the Surge
liquidstl 2 years ago
Its very, very rare to have a tornado imbedded in the eyewall.... Remember, this was a Category 5 hurricane... Wind gusts were equivalent to winds found in EF 5 tornadoes.. Fujita estimated a gust of 214 mph near Cuttler Ridge
liquidstl 2 years ago
i was not born yet but my parents were in delray at the time the said they didnt get strong winds
antoniocapob 2 years ago
AMAZING!!! This is hands down THE BEST hurricane footage I'VE ever seen! These are life changing events. I thank you for posting this video. I hope it convinces someone to evacuate if ever they are faced with that choice.
stuffunee 2 years ago
Andrew recently was upgraded to a full-blown category 5 at landfall.
LawrenceErnie 2 years ago