Hurricane Andrew was record-breaking, Irma is much worse

Seth Borenstein, NBC Miami, 8 September 2017, Hurricane Andrew Was a Monster; Irma Could Blow It Out of the Water: Andrew, “an incredible buzz saw giant tornado of a hurricane,” killed 65 people; Irma is much larger,


Satellite imagery of Hurricane Andrew (inset, at left) from Aug. 23, 1992, is digitally superimposed, to scale, over imagery of Hurricane Irma on Sept. 7, 2017.
Photo credit: NOAA

At the time, Andrew was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history with damages of $26.5 billion in 1992 dollars (about $50 billion in current dollars), according to the National Weather Service.

“The effect of Irma on the state of Florida is going to be much greater than Andrew’s effect,” said Weather Channel senior hurricane specialist Bryan Norcross, who was a local television meteorologist hailed as a hero during Andrew. “We’re dealing with an entirely different level of phenomenon. There is no storm to compare with this. Unless you go way back to 1926.”

Hurricane Andrew demolished Homestead Air Force Base near Miami, now known as Homestead Air Reserve Base after much of its operations moved to Moody Air Force Base near Valdosta, Georgia.

Moody AFB closed yesterday ahead of Hurricane Irma. I live about three miles from Moody, and I could hear them flying out planes for days. Many of the planes and copters Columbus Air Force Base, Miss.. Moody says:

The aircraft and rescue assets will remain at Columbus before re-engaging with other Moody assets to assist the Federal Emergency Management Agency and other first responder agencies during upcoming Hurricane Irma relief operations in the Southeast region.

Makes more sense than leaving planes sitting on the ground at Moody during a hurricane.

-jsq

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