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CNN Saturday Morning News

Research Upgrades Hurricane Andrew to Category Five

Aired August 24, 2002 - 07:02   ET

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

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: It was exactly 10 years ago today that Hurricane Andrew laid waste to parts of south Florida. Some new research shows that Andrew was a category five hurricane, not a four, as believed at the time.
Miami bureau chief John Zarrella covered Hurricane Andrew and joins us now from Homestead.

John, I think I'm dating you by saying that, but that was an amazing story to cover.

JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN MIAMI BUREAU CHIEF: Yes, and, you know, 10 years ago today, we didn't know how amazing it was going to be. As you said, it's just recently been upgraded to a category five hurricane, that now they believe sustained winds in Hurricane Andrew were 165 miles an hour, up from 145, and wind gusts may have exceeded 200 miles per hour.

I know 10 years ago today, right about this time at 7:00 a.m., people down here in Homestead were just now able to get out of their homes and assess the damage and see how bad it was. The eye of the hurricane made landfall about 5:05 a.m., not far from where we're standing here, just to the east by Homestead, by the Air Force base, and a place called Black Point Marina, in that general direction.

Now, it was more devastation than anybody could have imagined, and here today we're in Homestead, which has certainly recovered over the past 10 years. And what they're going to be doing is a Celebration of Kindness today, and that's to give thanks to those who helped.

This is Harris Field, and you can see there's lots of trees here right now. But 10 years ago, Carol, there was nothing here, it was completely leveled. All of what you see, the foliage, the trees, has all been replanted in the last 10 years. It was all laid waste by Hurricane Andrew.

And this Harris Field became Tent City. It was a symbol of the recovery effort. It was the focal point of the recovery effort. For five months, some 10,000 people called Harris Field their home. They were amongst the 250,000 people who had to -- who lost their homes, had to evacuate, 126,000 homes destroyed by Hurricane Andrew.

Now, we had the opportunity not too long ago to talk to a family that actually rode out Hurricane Andrew, didn't evacuate, and lived to tell about it. (BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: When they broadcast the (UNINTELLIGIBLE), you know, all the roofs are going to blow off, and (UNINTELLIGIBLE) said, No, I don't think so, it's never happened before, so...

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: So you hear all this rain, you hear the wind, and then there starts to be (UNINTELLIGIBLE) you could hear the nails starting to pop out of the wood. And at that point I was scared, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) scared.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: My mother was leaning up against the outside wall, and the wall she was on actually moved. You know, you could feel the wall sway. So it wasn't just, you know, so we were waiting for it to collapse.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: All you heard was howling of wind and then that's when we started moving from room to room, and at one point I remember the front door had blown open, and just all of this rain and leaves and sticks and debris were just coming in through the door.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: In my mind, I imagined something out of "The Wizard of Oz,", you know, like, we were all going to be sucked up out of this roof, you know. So, you know, it was very real at that moment.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: I remember there was, like, a bird on our patio, on our back patio, and it was in such shock that it sat there for two days after the storm and did not move, it didn't flinch. And all of us thought it was dead, and then one day it just disappeared, it just flew away.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Life went on, I guess, that's why I appreciate these pictures.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: And everyone here was in the same situation that we were in, with dealing with all the construction and rebuilding. And we still took time out for -- to celebrate things like birthdays.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: We're still all alive, you know, we made it.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

ZARRELLA: They made it, and so many others made it here. You can see Harris Field again, it's completely redone from what it looked like 10 years ago.

Now, you know, there's a lot of people out there who have -- most people have never experienced the power of a major hurricane. They really don't know what it's like. It's a real concern for hurricane forecaster.

And, of course, you know, they say a picture is worth 1,000 words. This picture is always -- this videotape has always stood out in my mind. If anybody out there doubts the force of a hurricane, that is a two-by-four that was driven through a palm tree by Hurricane Andrew's winds at about 30 feet up. We got that video within the first couple days after the storm down here in Homestead, Florida. That picture is certainly worth 1,000 words.

And again, all day today here in Homestead, Celebration of Kindness to give thanks to the people who helped them out. The fireworks celebration, concerts, a street festival, it is really a celebration of life.

This is John Zarrella reporting live from Homestead, Florida.

Carol?

And this is...

LIN: Hey, John, yes, real quickly, did the community entirely rebuild? I mean, is it as it was 10 years ago before the hurricane hit?

ZARRELLA: No, not at all. There have been tremendous changes from a social demographic point of view. Fifty-seven thousand people left South Dade County. Many of them were the middle class. Homestead is now predominantly Mexican-American. In fact, research has shown that a major disaster, like an Andrew, can hasten or accelerate social change which was already in the works, one of the things that happened here.

You've had other pockets of communities, Carol, that did not recover at all. We were in one yesterday, Naranja (ph) Lakes. Areas that recovered best tended to have the strongest community leadership. Other areas are still in some regard exactly how Andrew left them 10 years ago -- Carol.

LIN: That's amazing. All right. We're going to hear more all throughout the morning. Thanks so much, John.

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