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CNN Saturday Morning News
Hurricane Andrew Disaster Marks 10th Anniversary
Aired August 24, 2002 - 08:32 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
ANDERSON COOPER, CNN CORRESPONDENT: We've been talking with CNN's Miami Bureau Chief John Zarrella today, the 10th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew hitting south Florida. He covered that disaster and he's been reporting on its lasting effects.
He joins us now from Homestead, Florida -- John.
JOHN ZARRELLA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Anderson, yes, it seems as if we've been reporting on it on and off for the past 10 years. And, of course, you know, it was, this is Harris Field. And Harris Field became the focal point after Hurricane Andrew of the disaster. A tent city was erected here. Ten thousand people who had lost their homes spent there, four, five months in this tent city.
Now, no one knew how bad Andrew was going to be when it came ashore. The satellite imagery, though, was pretty clear and graphic to the folks at the National Hurricane Center of just how powerful Andrew was when it made landfall at 5:05 a.m. on August 24th.
But no one could have imagined the level, the magnitude of the disaster, $16 billion in insured damage. Andrew just about pummeled all of south Florida. It cut a swath through here.
And one of the ironies of it is that for days after Andrew, no one in the state or the federal government really had a good handle on how bad it was. It was incomprehensible. The level of devastation hadn't been seen in any hurricane previous to this. People were left homeless, hundreds of thousands, a quarter of a million people. A hundred twenty-five thousand homes completely obliterated.
And we had some time very recently to spend some time with a couple who lost everything but stayed on to rebuild their dream.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA (voice-over): Their timing couldn't have been much worse. Lloyd and Nikki 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.
NIKKI HOUGH, WIFE: 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?
LLOYD HOUGH, HUSBAND: 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.
NIKKI HOUGH: So that was all full of water and fish and cockamamie, you know.
LLOYD 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.
NIKKI HOUGH: 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.
NIKKI HOUGH: 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.
NIKKI HOUGH: 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 Nikki, the storm was bad enough. But the real nightmare began after the wind stopped blowing.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
ZARRELLA: Many people here today are going to be celebrating the rebuilding that has taken place during the past 10 years. A celebration of life to take place here throughout the day in Homestead.
This is John Zarrella reporting live from Homestead, Florida.
COOPER: All right, John, thanks a lot.
You can learn more about Andrew and what lies ahead this hurricane season by logging onto cnn.com's online hurricane special. Now, check out the deadliest and costliest storms there. Also see an animated feature on how hurricanes form. Remember, the AOL keyword: CNN.
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