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A palm tree, speared by a piece of lumber during Hurricane Andrew: https://imgur.com/a/3f77mEa https://imgur.com/a/3f77mEa I was in Miami for Andrew. My dad o

by js2 4y ago

A palm tree, speared by a piece of lumber during Hurricane Andrew: https://imgur.com/a/3f77mEa https://imgur.com/a/3f77mEa I was in Miami for Andrew. My dad owned a one-hour photo lab. After the storm, there were tons of insurance adjusters needing their photos developed. My dad and I got his lab open the day after Andrew and ran it on a portable generator for two weeks till the power came back. This was one of the photos we printed during that period. Fun times. The palm trees did fine. Miami also has ficus trees planted all over the place. Huge canopies. Huge root structures, but the roots are very broad and shallow. In my neighborhood, every ficus tree was toppled with its roots pulling up sidewalks and grass. This is not from Andrew, but it looks like this: https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/5618154292001/45c576b3-3406-4133-8c92-7ed961410e83/7466ac79-29a8-4772-81ce-37cb747473d0/1280x720/match/image.jpg https://cf-images.us-east-1.prod.boltdns.net/v1/static/56181... It's hard to convey the destructiveness of Andrew to folks who weren't there, but this gives some idea: https://historycollection.com/31-images-hurricane-andrew-destruction/2/ https://historycollection.com/31-images-hurricane-andrew-des... Apparently that tree is a celebrity. I didn't realize there were a bunch of picture of it on the Internet till now: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hurricane+andrew+palm+tree&ia=images&iax=images https://duckduckgo.com/?q=hurricane+andrew+palm+tree&ia=imag...

echoradio 4y ago
> Miami also has ficus trees planted all over the place. Fun story. In 2005, South Florida took two direct hits: Katrina in late August, Wilma in October. During Katrina, a neighbor’s massive ficus tree was toppled. They were in the process of removing it and had only taken care of the top when Wilma’s impending arrival halted work. Wilma put the tree upright. Thankfully those storms were nuisances compared to Andrew. I was north of where the eyewall hit, but seeing the aftermath has stuck with me for life. It is hard to believe it has been 30 years.
dylan604 4y ago
>It's hard to convey the destructiveness of Andrew to folks who weren't there I grew up with tornados, and know first hand their destructive potential. However, hurricanes scare the shit out of me as not only do you get the destructive winds, it's the flooding on top of that pain that's just truly devastating.
- User23 4y ago
  The surprise aspect of tornadoes can be dangerous too, especially at night. At least hurricanes are relatively predictable.
  - js2 4y ago
    I live in NC now. Tornadoes in the summer are not uncommon. One of the first things I purchased was a weather alert radio we keep in our bedroom. I have all of the alerts disabled except for tornado warnings.
- spc476 4y ago
  Hurricanes I can deal with (I live in South Florida). You get days of notice so you can prepare the property (and/or get out of the area). Tornados scare me more---they can just pop up and if you are lucky, you may get a few minutes warning. Perhaps it's just what you get used to growing up (never experienced an earthquake, and they scare me more than tornados).
  - importantbrian 4y ago
    I have lived in places where I've had to deal with both and it's the long notice involved with hurricanes that make them worse to me. Tornados are over and done with. There's no prep and the area they cover is small so you're unlikely to be directly effected by them. But with hurricanes there's so much prep to do, shortages to deal with, etc. and even if you don't take a direct hit there's often a ton of clean up and dealing with long power outages, etc. Tornados are in and out of your life in a blink. Hurricanes you have to live with for weeks or months it feels like.
    - dylan604 4y ago
      I love reading someone else's "comfort" with a tornado as meh that I have. However, we do know a lot about them, and can hear a warning, check out the location and then decide if we need to go hide or not. Simple info like if the danger zone is east of you, you're okay. If the danger zone is southwest-ish of you, then start paying closer attention. The fact that they can zoom in to the doppler images and see the circulation, provide the warning up to 15 mins in advance, see the debris to determine if it is on the ground or not, etc is absolutely fascinating and life saving abilities. Plus, they can extrapolate the path and tell people by street intersection that you're directly in the path. Hurricane predictions are like "well, we've told you for 3+ days to get the hell outta here in a wide swath of predicitions, but you didn't so...good luck!" There's no it's already passed us, so now we just hope to avoid the hail. Hurricanes pass, then you have the potential of bonus tornados, storm surge, and oh, the storm may just park directly on top of you and drop 40" of rain over the next couple of days. Yeah, I'll take a good ol' spring thunderstorm any day.
hansthehorse 4y ago
My sister lived across from the zoo and evacuated for Andrew. I went with her back the house after the storm and the neighborhood looked like a disorganized lumber yard. Nothing was standing.
- js2 4y ago
  Probably that was the Country Walk development. It’s next to the zoo. 90% of its 1700 homes were destroyed by Andrew. It was not built to code. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article172285552.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article172...

by js2 4y ago

echoradio 4y ago

> Miami also has ficus trees planted all over the place. Fun story. In 2005, South Florida took two direct hits: Katrina in late August, Wilma in October. During Katrina, a neighbor’s massive ficus tree was toppled. They were in the process of removing it and had only taken care of the top when Wilma’s impending arrival halted work. Wilma put the tree upright. Thankfully those storms were nuisances compared to Andrew. I was north of where the eyewall hit, but seeing the aftermath has stuck with me for life. It is hard to believe it has been 30 years.

dylan604 4y ago

>It's hard to convey the destructiveness of Andrew to folks who weren't there I grew up with tornados, and know first hand their destructive potential. However, hurricanes scare the shit out of me as not only do you get the destructive winds, it's the flooding on top of that pain that's just truly devastating.

User23 4y ago
The surprise aspect of tornadoes can be dangerous too, especially at night. At least hurricanes are relatively predictable.
- js2 4y ago
  I live in NC now. Tornadoes in the summer are not uncommon. One of the first things I purchased was a weather alert radio we keep in our bedroom. I have all of the alerts disabled except for tornado warnings.
spc476 4y ago
Hurricanes I can deal with (I live in South Florida). You get days of notice so you can prepare the property (and/or get out of the area). Tornados scare me more---they can just pop up and if you are lucky, you may get a few minutes warning. Perhaps it's just what you get used to growing up (never experienced an earthquake, and they scare me more than tornados).
- importantbrian 4y ago
  I have lived in places where I've had to deal with both and it's the long notice involved with hurricanes that make them worse to me. Tornados are over and done with. There's no prep and the area they cover is small so you're unlikely to be directly effected by them. But with hurricanes there's so much prep to do, shortages to deal with, etc. and even if you don't take a direct hit there's often a ton of clean up and dealing with long power outages, etc. Tornados are in and out of your life in a blink. Hurricanes you have to live with for weeks or months it feels like.
  - dylan604 4y ago
    I love reading someone else's "comfort" with a tornado as meh that I have. However, we do know a lot about them, and can hear a warning, check out the location and then decide if we need to go hide or not. Simple info like if the danger zone is east of you, you're okay. If the danger zone is southwest-ish of you, then start paying closer attention. The fact that they can zoom in to the doppler images and see the circulation, provide the warning up to 15 mins in advance, see the debris to determine if it is on the ground or not, etc is absolutely fascinating and life saving abilities. Plus, they can extrapolate the path and tell people by street intersection that you're directly in the path. Hurricane predictions are like "well, we've told you for 3+ days to get the hell outta here in a wide swath of predicitions, but you didn't so...good luck!" There's no it's already passed us, so now we just hope to avoid the hail. Hurricanes pass, then you have the potential of bonus tornados, storm surge, and oh, the storm may just park directly on top of you and drop 40" of rain over the next couple of days. Yeah, I'll take a good ol' spring thunderstorm any day.

hansthehorse 4y ago

My sister lived across from the zoo and evacuated for Andrew. I went with her back the house after the storm and the neighborhood looked like a disorganized lumber yard. Nothing was standing.

js2 4y ago
Probably that was the Country Walk development. It’s next to the zoo. 90% of its 1700 homes were destroyed by Andrew. It was not built to code. http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article172285552.html http://www.miamiherald.com/news/weather/hurricane/article172...