avatarMaria De La Rosa Baumann

Summary

Maria De La Rosa recounts her personal experience with Hurricane Andrew in Miami, Florida, emphasizing the community's resilience and the transformative impact of the disaster on societal attitudes.

Abstract

Maria De La Rosa, a retired entrepreneur, shares her memories of Hurricane Andrew, a category 5 hurricane that made landfall in Miami, Florida, on August 24. She describes the initial disbelief and preparation, the intense experience of the hurricane's landfall, and the subsequent aftermath, including the loss of power, the importance of community support, and the adaptability of Miami's residents. The narrative highlights the social impact of the hurricane on a generation unfamiliar with such events, the challenges of coping with the unknown, and the strengthening of community bonds in the face of adversity. Maria reflects on the lessons learned, including changes in building codes and emergency preparedness, and expresses a hope for a societal shift towards greater community care and interconnectedness.

Opinions

  • The author initially underestimated the severity of Hurricane Andrew, reflecting a common misconception about the power of natural disasters.
  • There was a significant social impact on South Florida, with many residents, including the author, experiencing a hurricane for the first time.
  • The author believes that the sense of community was significantly enhanced post-hurricane, as people came together to support each other.
  • The aftermath of the hurricane brought about a realization of the importance of human relationships and caring for one another, over material conveniences.
  • The author advocates for a change in mindset towards community care as a solution to modern problems like loneliness.
  • Despite the devastation, the author sees the disaster as a learning experience that led to improved building codes and emergency response protocols.
  • The author expresses gratitude for the government's and other states' assistance in the recovery efforts and acknowledges the benefits of such experiences in strengthening societal resilience.
  • The author, now living in Santiago, Dominican Republic, feels safe due to the geographical protection from strong winds, yet remains mindful of the potential for torrential rains to cause disruption.

Hurricanes — My experience with Hurricane Andrew — Miami, Florida

I don’t remember getting even any hurricane warnings until that year. The news of course were focusing on tracking this major hurricane. The landfall happened in the early morning around 5 am — on Aug. 24, which was a Monday. Our business had shut down completely and we were told to keep watching the news and check to see when it was safe to return to work.

I remember I was out shopping for some last minute items and still did not worry too much. How bad could a Hurricane category 5 really be? My husband though was getting very worried and yelled at me on the phone to drop everything and get home as fast as I could.

I want to add a quote here from one of many stories about this hurricane.

“The social impacts on South Florida were tremendous. You have to take into consideration that before Hurricane Andrew, there was about a generation of South Florida residents who had not experienced a hurricane. In addition, there was even more residents that had just relocated to the area, and had never experienced any kind of tropical storm or hurricane.”

Some of my coworkers also felt that there was nothing to worry about. Unfortunately some of them lived in areas that were hit hard. They needed to get temporary housing because their house was so badly damaged–it had become inhabitable. Thankfully they had insurance.

We had another family staying with us, since we felt it was safer in our area.

We all huddled together in our living room downstairs. Everything was boarded up. It felt eerie. We still had electricity and were able to follow the news. Still nothing happened –later during the night we heard on the radio that people started to panic in some areas. The actual landfall happened around 5 am in Homestead which is about an hour drive from where we lived.

The winds started to pick up and we could hear the howling. Our house began to move back and forth — it was felt by everyone. We did not know what to expect, so we just waited. Maybe some of us even got some sleep. We survived the night without any damage to our house.

The Aftermath:

On the news we heard the repeated instructions for everyone to stay inside. No one knew what the situation was. There was complete power outage now. Of course we were prepared with batteries, food and water. But no one was concerned about food now. None of us had ever gone through an experience like that. Not knowing what was happening outside was very difficult to cope with.

After a few hours around noon we dared to open the door. It was very quiet. Our neighborhood looked in good shape. As far as we could see there was no roof damage and all the windows were boarded up. Traffic lights did not work since there was no power. Now we needed to figure out a way to deal with the heat.–This was August and it was very hot.

We knew now that the hurricane had completely left our state and it was safe to take down the shutters and open the windows. Most of our neighbors went outside to get some air and some people started to share meals. Everything had to be used quickly. So for about two days we had enough fresh food to cook and share! (Generators are being used now by many)

This was one of the greatest experiences I had ever before. People who had never met, because everyone liked to be inside inside the air conditioned homes came out and now we became a real community. This lasted about two weeks until the power came back. Then people would again close their windows and stay in their homes.

I have never thought, that such a big city as Miami could function without Traffic lights. But to my amazement it functioned very well. Very few intersections had traffic cops. People knew how to adapt! At least during daytime it worked well. I could not resist and drove around in the city to see for myself.

It is my dream–that as a people we can go back and bring it into our modern lives with all the conveniences — what is most important: relationships; caring for one another. We keep hearing about the increasing problem with loneliness.

I dare say that this is an easy problem to solve. We need to think really hard and honest–What is it that keeps us isolated from one another??–Once we have an honest assessment we’ll have the problem solved. And it won’t cost anything except a change in Attitude or Mindset which in my opinion is: caring for others. I was reminded during this time, what a great community we had.

I know there are many areas where it took much longer to restore power and getting life back to normal. There is a lot of information online about the actual impact and aftermath of the Hurricane. But here I just wanted to give a glimpse of what it is like to be caught in the middle of it.

Much was learned from this disaster. The building codes changed. Now every time there is a hurricane warning a state of emergency will be declared — Just in case an area gets hit — everything is in place for a quick recovery. The governor of Florida just declared another State of Emergency to prepare for “Hurricane Dorian”.

I still get tears in my eyes when I think how the government sent help from so many other states. As a community or society we benefited a lot from that experience. We take things for granted and complain about even the smallest inconvenience.

Florida had its share of Hurricanes. Of course the Dominican Republic where I live now also has to deal with them quite often. But since we live in Santiago which is surrounded by mountains, we don’t get the strong winds. Only the torrential rains can cause real havoc here.

Every time there are hurricane warnings, we get messages from family and friends wanting to know, if we are okay. But thankfully our response is always — don’t worry, we are living in a safe area.

Maria De La Rosa — retired; former entrepreneur

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