Huracan means Heart of Earth Heart of Sky

... I had just returned from my second summer of working with Institute of Archaeology (NICH) Belize to squeeze in what would be my last family vacation (to date at least). We had driven over to Sanibel Island, FL and explored the beautiful west coast of our home state. Upon the weather reports, we rushed back across Alligator Alley, Everglades, Fl to encounter a whole line of cars heading in the opposite direction.

Our hurricane prep had to be kicked into high gear, with only a few short hours until the predicted landfall. It was by far the scariest night of my life. Uncertainty. Humility. Unknowing. When in the midst of a natural disaster we are wholly and completely in the hands of mother nature. Eventually the sun rose again, and by noon the waters in our neighborhood had receeded. Having survived with our home more or less intact, we gingerly ventured out to survey the effects.

Of course there was no electricity. Or running water at first. But these services were restored within several hours to several days in our area. The olive trees were all down, uprooted, laying sideways on the ground. Electrical wires dangled dangerously throughout the neighborhood like strewn jump ropes. The park was a complete mess. But the most difficult part of all was the complete absence of communication with our family in the Homestead area. No phone. Internet did not yet exist for us, nor did cell phones. Land lines were inoperable. And we had no access to television because our electricity had not yet been restored... Those were the most difficult days, hours that seemed like months.

Once the electricity finally came back on and we were able to view the #TV #Broadcast coverage of the storm damage... we could not believe what we saw. Complete and utter destruction. Telephone poles snapped like toothpicks. Trees completely denuded of branches and foliage. Houses, apartments and businesses in ruin, reduced to a messy pile of concrete and wood from which they were constructed. That had been my first experience in a serious hurricane, there were many close calls before, but this... this was a direct hit and a hard one. Many families lost everything in that storm. We began to see the incredible destruction that the southern parts of #Miami had sustained, and unable to contact any of our family members, my dad and I loaded up water, blankets, food and first aid supplies and headed out. We were going on a search and rescue mission, not knowing what to expect or what we would find. It started out okay, more trees down, electrical wires hanging... but as we drove further south, the landscape began to change. This familiar route became more and more foreign to me. Housing complexes crashed in from the top. Areas once covered with tree canopy looking like open savannah. The #MiamiZoo campus, with its new aviary, completely unidentifiable.

Once we got off the highway, which had been somewhat cleared of the debris, crumpled metal signs and their poles had been moved out of the center lane onto the shoulder. It was even hard to know where to get off, the landmarks were all missing. The short journey from the highway to the neighborhood where my mothers grandmother lived was the most difficult part of all. There were command centers set up, long lines of people looking disheveled. Soldiers handing out water. As we got closer it seemed to get more difficult to figure out where we were. At this point, there were no trees in sight. Not a single leaf anywhere. Many homes we passed were in various states of collapse, yards were littered with random debris, aluminum siding, patio furniture, buckets. We finally managed to locate the house. It too was bare of trees, foliage, just the trunk of the giant avocado stood behind as a sentinel of sorts... but the house was still standing! We found a clear spot to park. Got out. And the door opened! I was so happy and relieved to find my three grandmothers all alive and relatively well. There were parts of the house that were in shambles, roof busted, but they were okay. We brought in the food, water, and supplies that we'd brought. Dad got to work with the chainsaw, clearing fallen trees from the driveway. And honestly, I don't even remember the ride home! All I know is that I was really happy that our search and rescue mission was successful. The rest is #history....

If you have stories of #HurricaneAndrew, check out History Miami or contact them at archives@historymiami.org or 305-375-1623.