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CNN Live Saturday

Interview With Steve Losner

Aired August 24, 2002 - 12:02   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: A decade now after Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida with deadly force, some communities still have not recovered from the destruction. CNN's John Zarrella has an update from Homestead, one of the places where the hurricane hit hardest. Hi there, John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Fredricka. Well, that's right, it was a momentous event, an occasion that, you know, today, 10 years later certainly still lingers, the after effects. It was the greatest natural disaster in U.S. history, $16 billion.

Well, today here in Homestead, one of the hardest hit areas, they are remembering that event. And really what they're doing is celebrating life, celebrating progress, now they have moved on, how they have overcome here in Homestead what was total obliteration; everything was knocked down.

The beginnings stages of festivities today. Some kite flying going on, but you know, if you look back at what happened 5:00 in the morning on the 24th when that storm came inland, it was just absolute brute force. No one could imagine the level of devastation, because they hadn't had a major hurricane in Florida in 30 years. And there had not been a hurricane of this magnitude to hit the United States in a populated area in many, many years. Even the aerial views of the area, you couldn't tell the widespread scope of the destruction, although everything was knocked down, roofs torn off, the level of destruction was still so incomprehensible those pictures didn't do it any justice.

But here at Harris Field, which is where we are today, this really became symbolic of where all of the recovery efforts were centered. A tent city grew up here. The Army brought in tents. They brought in water buffaloes. They fed, they watered, they housed people here in tents for three, four, five months, up to 10,000 people called tent city home. They were among a quarter of a million people left homeless after Andrew; 126,000 homes absolutely literally destroyed.

And of course, you know, we concentrate on the people so much, we tend to forget that animals were affected too. And there was a widespread effect. Metro Zoo was -- was blown down in great regard. The aviary destroyed. Other areas destroyed in South Florida. And people who had exotic pets, with their hopes wiped out and destroyed, those animals all escaped into the wild, trying to find refuge themselves. Many, many exotic animals have been introduced to the wild down here in the last 10 years that never were there before, and many of them certainly were caught, but there are a lot of them out there, the experts say. They are living out in the Everglades now. They weren't free animals 10 years ago.

So the impact continues even today, as many communities recover; others still a long way to go before they recover. There are communities out there, Fredricka, that even today look exactly the same or worse than they did 10 years ago right after Andrew hit them. They have not recovered at all -- Fredricka.

WHITFIELD: And part of that recovery, John, has a lot to do with the economy and the economic picture of so many businesses, not only residents left, but a lot of businesses left, as well as the military base which really was a central part of the economy. How, if any -- what kind of efforts, I should say, if any, are made to try and lure people back to the Homestead area, those who chose not stay?

ZARRELLA: Well, about 57,000 people left South Dade County. And what happened, as you said, the Air Force base was gone, a baseball team was supposed to come down here to play exhibition baseball in a new stadium they built for them. They backed out of that deal. So the whole -- the hurricane really, according to what analysts are saying now, hastened the entire change of the social economic fabric down here.

And what they are doing here now is lot of eco-tourism, trying to get people to come down here for diving and for fishing. So it has changed dramatically the whole complexion of South Dade County, and it continues to change even today.

WHITFIELD: All right, thanks very much, John Zarrella. Appreciate it.

Well, among those who stayed in Homestead to rebuild, Steve Losner, the vice mayor of Homestead. His home was damaged and his business building was destroyed. His family has lived in the area since the 1920s. And Steve Losner joins us now from Homestead with a little bit more about your experience. Thanks for joining us.

STEVE LOSNER, ANDREW SURVIVOR: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Well, do you find it rather comforting to look around and see that there are quite a few families and individuals who have come out there to celebrate life, as John put it, and celebrate the fact that they stayed in Homestead?

LOSNER: It is really heartening to be out here and winding up our week long festivities. Not -- not commemorating Hurricane Andrew, but celebrating our survival and rebirth and re-growth of our area. And certainly, it's driven home as we on all the network coverage see that those tapes of the replays of just the absolute destruction that we suffered that morning 10 years ago.

WHITFIELD: Well, Steve, what about you? Why is it that you were among those who decided to stay, when thousands of others of your neighbors and colleagues said, you know what, I'm ready to pack up and leave? LOSNER: Well, if my mind, there was never a question. My family has been in the community, as have many others, for nearly 80 years. Our community is only 90 years old. And you know, among my circle of family and friends, we have that lifelong commitment, and the roots here in the community. And for many of us, there was never a question.

But again, when you look at the review of the devastation, it's easy to understand why those without the connection to our community or without -- without their jobs being in place any longer, that it was easy to take the insurance money and move on without -- you know, as we woke up that morning, it was easy to look around and think, how will we ever clean this up? Much less, rebuild. Just the cleanup effort was unreal.

WHITFIELD: And Steve, so many people who did decide to, you know, take the insurance money and leave, really kind of articulated that they felt like if they stayed in Homestead, that they would constantly every day be reliving what they went through with Andrew. So since you decided to stay, do you feel like you often think about those indelible images, during Andrew and post-Andrew of the rebuilding?

LOSNER: Well, over the last few years, I think most of us who are here have done our best to forget it. You know, from a bricks and mortar perspective, we've moved on. We aren't reminded on the physical basis every day of the destruction, but I will tell you, for the first four or five years, there were reminders at every turn of the disaster that came upon us. And we're happy today to not have those reminders.

WHITFIELD: How much does it concern you that post-Andrew, so many residents down in Dade County will barely put up boards, or in a -- reluctantly put up boards whenever there is a threat of a hurricane, because people figure, A, we have been through Hurricane Andrew, we know a category five, or B, some will think, you know what, we've already been through an Andrew, it can't possibly happen again within a 10-year span.

LOSNER: Well, I will tell you, among my circle of friends and colleagues and acquaintances here at Homestead, that is not the case. Over the past few years, as we have been threatened with other tropical storms and hurricanes, which fortunately have not hit us, there's no question that the shutters go up.

I think probably four or five times in the last 10 years we have had occasion to do that, and believe me, those of us who have lived it don't want to live that again, and we're very quick to put up shutters.

And certainly the media and government and all of us certainly caution those who did not live through Andrew to go out and get shutters, put up those shutters and be prepared.

WHITFIELD: All right. And Steve, what is your vision for the future? Since Homestead will never be exactly what it was, do you still think that there's a concerted effort to try to rebuild, or try to, you know, lure, as John was telling us a little bit, more of eco- tourism. But what about in other economic bases?

LOSNER: Well, here at Homestead particularly, economic tourism is a part of it. Certainly we lost $500,000 a year impact from Homestead Air Force base. We have moved beyond that. Homestead is now, in fact, the last frontier available for development in deep South Dade County. We're seeing nationally reputable home builders and other commercial developers looking to Homestead as the place where open land is available. We have responsive local government, and certainly that small-town atmosphere that I think has been a major factor in this recovery. It is truly the can-do and let's-help-each- other attitude to help rebuild this community.

WHITFIELD: All right, Steve Losner, vice mayor of Homestead, thank you very much. And best wishes to you all as you continue to rebuild and recover.

LOSNER: Thank you. Appreciate it.

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