How Unusual Would a November Hurricane Be in Florida?
It has rained and rained in Florida. At times it has been as heavy as a winter storm in New England. The weather is miserable. And yet somehow, it always looks like some distant tropical storm is coming close to the Sunshine State.
Even though our economy is down, the weather is the biggest story in my office. The rainwater is the news. After two consecutive wet starts, the weather has been a topic of discussion on our desk since early November.
This article is not about the weather. It is about how unusual a November hurricane would be in Florida.
When the hurricanes of the past were in Florida, they were a very different story.
Hurricane Andrew devastated the Florida Keys on August 24, 1992. It leveled the buildings of the Holiday Inn and the Sheraton.
During its 22-hour rampage, it dumped as much rain as 5.2 million people would receive in one day. The water rose to levels higher than the dam upstream from Lake Okeechobee. In total, the storm dumped more than 2.6 inches of rain on the Keys.
An eerie silence settled over the entire region soon afterwards, due to the fact that the winds had ceased. In fact, after the storm the entire county of Sarasota was underwater for several hours.
As for what the Keys looked like in the aftermath of the hurricane, nothing is more haunting than the images of all of the fallen palm trees. The storms took down trees all over the Keys, leaving nothing to mark the location of the storm. It looked as if nobody was there.
The hurricane struck the area after a huge area of record warmth had descended upon the Keys.
However, there were no deaths from the storm. However, many people were reported missing.
Many of the victims walked around with bandaged hands, with no evidence of the storm hitting them. There were no apparent signs of the storm in the Keys; the wind was so strong that it had ripped the top leaves off of trees as they fell.
Hurricane Andrew also caused widespread power outages, affecting millions of homes in the Keys. The utility company, Florida Power & Light, estimated that more than 5 million homes were left in the dark for several days.
This was probably the worst storm to hit the Keys, in terms of the damage and devastation.
