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CNN Live Saturday

Florida Remembers Hurricane Andrew

Aired August 24, 2002 - 18:14   ET

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

CATHERINE CALLAWAY, CNN ANCHOR: Believe it or not it was exactly 10 years ago today that Hurricane Andrew devastated parts of south Florida. Miami bureau chief John Zarrella covered Hurricane Andrew - he sure did - and what a wonderful job he did. He's joining us now from Florida with a look at how people are now 10 years later.
John, I remember your coverage back then. It was incredible and you know I can imagine that if you were to fly over that area, you could probably in some form or fashion still see some of the effects of Andrew.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Oh, absolutely, there's no question about it. There's pockets of South Dade County that have never recovered, never been redeveloped for one reason or another. But we are in an area that, you know, looks great right now. This is called Country Walk (ph). You look around here. They've got a beautiful lake. They've got a water fountain, gazebos, picnic grounds.

There's ducks all over the area out here. It's just a gorgeous setting. Well 10 years ago it was anything but gorgeous. This area really became Country Walk (ph) the poster child for what is wrong with shoddy buildings, construction, and with building codes that were ignored, overlooked. Three hundred and forty-four homes had to be absolutely leveled to the ground here and then rebuilt.

And it is also one of the success stories because they were able to rebuild. They won lawsuits against the developers and the contractors, the insurance company, and today they celebrated the fact that they were able to lift themselves up by the bootstraps. They had a cake - they cut a cake here today. They had a picnic and a gathering for all of those who still live here, who were part of that experience, that collective experience and you know there's a bond with the people who went through that, and lived through to tell about it and who rebuilt.

But they're not the only ones, the people that lived here. There are stories like this all over South Dade County of people who lost everything and stayed to rebuild their lives and their dreams.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA (voice-over): Their timing couldn't have been much worse. Lloyd and Nicky (ph) Hough moved into their dream home in South Miami 36 hours before Hurricane Andrew hit. After Andrew, there wasn't much left. When we caught up with the Houghs on the first anniversary of the storm, they had still not escaped Andrew's nightmarish grip.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: People don't come to do the repairs. They say they're coming; they don't show up. You can't get the supplies, the prices have gone up. This is probably the worst - the worst part of it is waiting and waiting and wondering when - when are we coming back home.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That was gone ...

ZARRELLA: Now 10 years after the storm, rebuilding is long behind them. The Houghs are home, but what Andrew did is as clear today as it was a decade ago.

LLOYD HOUGH: The roof peeled back, blew up, peeled back, and the upper part above the windows just left.

ZARRELLA: Talking about the storm has never bothered the Houghs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: So that was (UNINTELLIGIBLE) water and fish and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you know.

HOUGH: I don't want to ever forget it because if you forget it you become complacent. If you become complacent, then you get your head knocked off again.

ZARRELLA: Even if they wanted to forget, it's impossible. There are always lingering reminders.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's hard to explain to you that after 10 years, I'll go into the kitchen, and I'll be looking for a platter, where is it? Gone.

ZARRELLA: Then there is the season - hurricane season. From June through November it haunts them.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: When a tropical wave comes through where they announce on television there's going to be this and that, I leave - I leave. I go to the Marriott. I leave. I can't take the pressure. I just go ...

ZARRELLA: The Houghs vow if there's another Andrew, they will not rebuild again.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I can assure you as we sit here, if this ever happened again, don't come back. We'll be gone.

ZARRELLA: For Lloyd and Nicky (ph), the storm was bad enough, but the real nightmare began after the wind stopped blowing.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: There are so many stories here in South Dade County, celebrations really 10 years later of the human spirit, Catherine. It's really the ability to, you know, to endure and prevail, and so many people down here were able to do that - Catherine.

CALLAWAY: Yes they were. Thank you John. John Zarrella in Homestead, a now beautiful Homestead. Thanks John.

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