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In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew
By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Asterie Baker Provenzo
Based on interviews with survivors and rescue workers in the weeks and months that followed, In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew is the extraordinary story of one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern American history as told by the people who lived through it.
Read a complete excerpt from chapter four and peruse the Table of Contents.

Chapter Four - PDF HTML | Table of Contents - PDF HTML | Purchase Now

4: Immediate Emergency Relief
The evacuation of people from low-lying areas before Hurricane Andrew struck had been highly successful. During the first hundred hours after the storm, however, relief efforts proved inadequate. There were many reasons for this. A major storm had not hit South Florida since the mid-1960s, and an entire generation had grown up with no experience of hurricanes. In addition, the exceptional force of the storm and the fact that it covered an area of twenty-five to thirty miles, from downtown Miami south to Homestead, created special logistical problems.
Many of the problems that related to mounting the initial relief effort after the storm had to do with jurisdictional disputes and administrative incompetence. Metro Dade mayor Steve Clark failed to provide leadership. The relief efforts of volunteer agencies such as the American Red Cross were not coordinated with the efforts being made by the military. There were also questions over federal versus state and local jurisdiction. All these issues contributed to the confusion and lack of effective response in the first week after Andrew.
In covering the hurricane for NBC News, I. J. Hudson said that he had seen a "combination of some of the worst coordination in the world and some of the best coordination in the world." He also saw almost total frustration change to a kind of faith, as people decided, "Yes, we are going to get out of this."
Critical to the rescue operations after Hurricane Andrew were the efforts of the police and local firefighters. While the police were primarily engaged in preventing looting and helping restore order, the county's 1,200 firefighters were involved in rescue operations and in providing emergency medical services.
The Police
The police played a critical role in early rescue efforts, despite the fact that there was a great deal of confusion immediately after the storm. As Jane Jones (a pseudonym), a Metro Dade police officer, explained, the situation immediately after the storm "was a mess. We didn't know what to do-who to listen to." Critical help came from officers brought in from South Carolina who had had experience dealing with Hurricane Hugo. According to Jones, their advice was of much greater value than that of many of the people who were nominally in charge. Jones soon found herself "completely ignoring" her superiors and following the suggestions of the South Carolina officers.
Hurricane Andrew meant that many police officers were reassigned to the southern half of the county for special duty. Metro Dade police officer Michael Tang, for example, found himself transferred to law enforcement duties in the southern half of the county the day after the hurricane.
We were told we were going down south because that's where everything was worse. I remember it like it was yesterday. We had a field force, which consists of twelve to fifteen cars in a row, with lights and sirens going all the way down to Cutler Ridge and we-I distinctly remember this-it was dark, there were no streetlights anywhere, so it was very, very dark. With the little light we had from the car, I could begin to see houses without roofs, cars overturned. As I rode by, I was at a loss for words. I was kind of like in shock. I really didn't know what to expect when the sun came up. We got to a rendezvous point, which was directly across from the Cutler Ridge Mall. I had no idea that I was in front of the Cutler Ridge Mall until someone pointed it out, that the place with no signs that was practically leveled was the mall. . . . I didn't know what street I was on, whether I was facing north, south, east, or west, just because of the destruction there.
When the sun came up, there were some National Guardsmen out in the streets already, and I saw the Holiday Inn in Cutler Ridge with practically the whole side missing. I could see into the rooms, and I saw that across from there was a pile of rubble that used to be a Peaches Record store. . . . I'd seen pictures of places like Beirut after bombs had exploded. This area was worse than Beirut. Once I saw everything, when the sun came up, I really got a grip of, wow, we're in for it, that it was gonna be a long time rebuilding, trying to get this to where it used to be.

Rescue and law enforcement efforts made Tang, and others like him, feel needed in ways that were unique in his experience as a law enforcer.
Well, for the first time, I think I felt-and it's a sad way to feel-but I think to them I was like a knight in shining armor, in several cases. Like once, we had to take food down there to some of the lower-income areas, migrant labor camps, and they were scared to come out. A lot felt they would be deported if they were found. I'll tell you one story I'll never forget. We were helping distribute food and supplies. There was one family there, they had about four babies, and when we gave them what they needed, the smile that came to their faces was incredible. Many of the people would tell me that they hadn't eaten for two days, had no water, et cetera. One child-whose, I don't know-tugged on my pant leg. All he wanted was a Coke, and we didn't have a Coke. All we had was water. But in my lunchbox I had two Cokes for myself, so I opened it and told the little boy he could have anything he wanted. I didn't want any of it. I basically didn't want to eat after this poor child begged me for a Coke. I mean, all he wanted was a Coke, and it was real hard. . . . It's kind of bringing tears to my eyes right now as I'm talking. I tell you, I went home after that day and cried. . . . We are supposed to keep our cool, but it's pretty hard, though, 'cause we're human beings.

Jane Jones realized that her traditional role as a police officer was being redefined. "We suddenly became the servants, the helpers, the rescue team. We weren't out there busting people. We weren't out there answering domestic disturbances. We were helping people, distributing food, making sure they were taken care of as far as injuries. The hospitals were packed, so we dealt with a lot of injuries that might have ended up in the hospital-and basic first aid. It was a very different role for us. . . . It actually made me feel good to be out there helping." Jones sensed that people were respecting the police more than before Hurricane Andrew: "Before, we were the pigs-the ones everyone tried to hide from. We were looked upon as scum in Miami-and maybe soon will be again. But I think that what we did during the hurricane earned us a lot of respect. People who would have been out breaking the law were actually asking us for help, and we were there helping people."
Hurricane Andrew redefined policing in the southern part of the county. Approximately one hundred additional officers were assigned to the Cutler Ridge Station for a minimum of a year. They were expected to understand that police work would be a little different from in the past. A more humanistic approach was required, as they were expected to respond to calls for assistance and help in matters not conceived of before the storm.
Being part of the rescue effort for officers like Tang was not only difficult and exhausting, but also complicated by the fact that so many police officers and their families were victims themselves:
We were just out there helping the people, and every now and then, you'd be really, really low, because it was just depressing and you would just see the destruction, and we were working a minimum of twelve hours. We had no days off. We had 130 officers lose their houses, from Metro Dade alone. . . . It was like no one was really there-our bodies were, but our minds were elsewhere. . . . Every now and then, when you get to a really low point, something would happen to get you back up again. One day, in the car, we saw an elderly Hispanic couple who had filled their car up with water. They came up to us and they said they wanted to donate this, but we can't find a way to donate it. So they gave it to us and we gave it away to everyone we could. . . .<
It was just so tough to see people who had never thought that this would ever [happen] have to stand in line, or make a line two blocks long, just to get some bread and water. A lot of people were embarrassed to have to do this. Here were people making over thirty to forty thousand dollars a year, and had nice homes, nice cars, who thought they were set, having to get whatever we could bring to help them survive.

Police officers and firefighters often found themselves providing services in their own neighborhoods, because they were also victims of the storm. As Jane Jones explained: "It was hard to be professional. It was very hard. It was hard to see your neighborhood, where you'd lived all your life, gone, and the people not knowing what to do."
Hurricane Andrew created an extremely difficult but not uncommon situation for Officer Michael Laughlin and his family. After the storm he was required to work twelve-hour shifts, while his wife had to handle the dramatic changes in their daily routine and family life. Unable to find housing near Laughlin's job in the south end of the county, the family temporarily moved. "Because we have gone to twelve-hour shifts, I don't see my family. Plus, I had to move up to Broward County. So in addition to the twelve hours of work here, I have an hour travel each way, so I'm up to fourteen hours. On weekdays, on a good day, I see my kids fifteen minutes. . . . I haven't had much interaction with [my] kids since the hurricane. . . . I'm not exercising and I put on at least ten pounds."
© 2002 University Press of Florida. All Rights Reserved.
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Reading Room: Sample
In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew By Eugene F. Provenzo, Jr. and Asterie Baker Provenzo Based on interviews with survivors and rescue workers in the weeks and months that followed, In the Eye of Hurricane Andrew is the extraordinary story of one of the most destructive natural disasters in modern American history as told by the people who lived through it. Read a complete excerpt from chapter four and peruse the Table of Contents.
Chapter Four - PDF HTML \| Table of Contents - PDF HTML \| Purchase Now
4: Immediate Emergency Relief The evacuation of people from low-lying areas before Hurricane Andrew struck had been highly successful. During the first hundred hours after the storm, however, relief efforts proved inadequate. There were many reasons for this. A major storm had not hit South Florida since the mid-1960s, and an entire generation had grown up with no experience of hurricanes. In addition, the exceptional force of the storm and the fact that it covered an area of twenty-five to thirty miles, from downtown Miami south to Homestead, created special logistical problems. Many of the problems that related to mounting the initial relief effort after the storm had to do with jurisdictional disputes and administrative incompetence. Metro Dade mayor Steve Clark failed to provide leadership. The relief efforts of volunteer agencies such as the American Red Cross were not coordinated with the efforts being made by the military. There were also questions over federal versus state and local jurisdiction. All these issues contributed to the confusion and lack of effective response in the first week after Andrew. In covering the hurricane for NBC News, I. J. Hudson said that he had seen a "combination of some of the worst coordination in the world and some of the best coordination in the world." He also saw almost total frustration change to a kind of faith, as people decided, "Yes, we are going to get out of this." Critical to the rescue operations after Hurricane Andrew were the efforts of the police and local firefighters. While the police were primarily engaged in preventing looting and helping restore order, the county's 1,200 firefighters were involved in rescue operations and in providing emergency medical services. The Police The police played a critical role in early rescue efforts, despite the fact that there was a great deal of confusion immediately after the storm. As Jane Jones (a pseudonym), a Metro Dade police officer, explained, the situation immediately after the storm "was a mess. We didn't know what to do-who to listen to." Critical help came from officers brought in from South Carolina who had had experience dealing with Hurricane Hugo. According to Jones, their advice was of much greater value than that of many of the people who were nominally in charge. Jones soon found herself "completely ignoring" her superiors and following the suggestions of the South Carolina officers. Hurricane Andrew meant that many police officers were reassigned to the southern half of the county for special duty. Metro Dade police officer Michael Tang, for example, found himself transferred to law enforcement duties in the southern half of the county the day after the hurricane. We were told we were going down south because that's where everything was worse. I remember it like it was yesterday. We had a field force, which consists of twelve to fifteen cars in a row, with lights and sirens going all the way down to Cutler Ridge and we-I distinctly remember this-it was dark, there were no streetlights anywhere, so it was very, very dark. With the little light we had from the car, I could begin to see houses without roofs, cars overturned. As I rode by, I was at a loss for words. I was kind of like in shock. I really didn't know what to expect when the sun came up. We got to a rendezvous point, which was directly across from the Cutler Ridge Mall. I had no idea that I was in front of the Cutler Ridge Mall until someone pointed it out, that the place with no signs that was practically leveled was the mall. . . . I didn't know what street I was on, whether I was facing north, south, east, or west, just because of the destruction there. When the sun came up, there were some National Guardsmen out in the streets already, and I saw the Holiday Inn in Cutler Ridge with practically the whole side missing. I could see into the rooms, and I saw that across from there was a pile of rubble that used to be a Peaches Record store. . . . I'd seen pictures of places like Beirut after bombs had exploded. This area was worse than Beirut. Once I saw everything, when the sun came up, I really got a grip of, wow, we're in for it, that it was gonna be a long time rebuilding, trying to get this to where it used to be. Rescue and law enforcement efforts made Tang, and others like him, feel needed in ways that were unique in his experience as a law enforcer. Well, for the first time, I think I felt-and it's a sad way to feel-but I think to them I was like a knight in shining armor, in several cases. Like once, we had to take food down there to some of the lower-income areas, migrant labor camps, and they were scared to come out. A lot felt they would be deported if they were found. I'll tell you one story I'll never forget. We were helping distribute food and supplies. There was one family there, they had about four babies, and when we gave them what they needed, the smile that came to their faces was incredible. Many of the people would tell me that they hadn't eaten for two days, had no water, et cetera. One child-whose, I don't know-tugged on my pant leg. All he wanted was a Coke, and we didn't have a Coke. All we had was water. But in my lunchbox I had two Cokes for myself, so I opened it and told the little boy he could have anything he wanted. I didn't want any of it. I basically didn't want to eat after this poor child begged me for a Coke. I mean, all he wanted was a Coke, and it was real hard. . . . It's kind of bringing tears to my eyes right now as I'm talking. I tell you, I went home after that day and cried. . . . We are supposed to keep our cool, but it's pretty hard, though, 'cause we're human beings. Jane Jones realized that her traditional role as a police officer was being redefined. "We suddenly became the servants, the helpers, the rescue team. We weren't out there busting people. We weren't out there answering domestic disturbances. We were helping people, distributing food, making sure they were taken care of as far as injuries. The hospitals were packed, so we dealt with a lot of injuries that might have ended up in the hospital-and basic first aid. It was a very different role for us. . . . It actually made me feel good to be out there helping." Jones sensed that people were respecting the police more than before Hurricane Andrew: "Before, we were the pigs-the ones everyone tried to hide from. We were looked upon as scum in Miami-and maybe soon will be again. But I think that what we did during the hurricane earned us a lot of respect. People who would have been out breaking the law were actually asking us for help, and we were there helping people." Hurricane Andrew redefined policing in the southern part of the county. Approximately one hundred additional officers were assigned to the Cutler Ridge Station for a minimum of a year. They were expected to understand that police work would be a little different from in the past. A more humanistic approach was required, as they were expected to respond to calls for assistance and help in matters not conceived of before the storm. Being part of the rescue effort for officers like Tang was not only difficult and exhausting, but also complicated by the fact that so many police officers and their families were victims themselves: We were just out there helping the people, and every now and then, you'd be really, really low, because it was just depressing and you would just see the destruction, and we were working a minimum of twelve hours. We had no days off. We had 130 officers lose their houses, from Metro Dade alone. . . . It was like no one was really there-our bodies were, but our minds were elsewhere. . . . Every now and then, when you get to a really low point, something would happen to get you back up again. One day, in the car, we saw an elderly Hispanic couple who had filled their car up with water. They came up to us and they said they wanted to donate this, but we can't find a way to donate it. So they gave it to us and we gave it away to everyone we could. . . .< It was just so tough to see people who had never thought that this would ever [happen] have to stand in line, or make a line two blocks long, just to get some bread and water. A lot of people were embarrassed to have to do this. Here were people making over thirty to forty thousand dollars a year, and had nice homes, nice cars, who thought they were set, having to get whatever we could bring to help them survive. Police officers and firefighters often found themselves providing services in their own neighborhoods, because they were also victims of the storm. As Jane Jones explained: "It was hard to be professional. It was very hard. It was hard to see your neighborhood, where you'd lived all your life, gone, and the people not knowing what to do." Hurricane Andrew created an extremely difficult but not uncommon situation for Officer Michael Laughlin and his family. After the storm he was required to work twelve-hour shifts, while his wife had to handle the dramatic changes in their daily routine and family life. Unable to find housing near Laughlin's job in the south end of the county, the family temporarily moved. "Because we have gone to twelve-hour shifts, I don't see my family. Plus, I had to move up to Broward County. So in addition to the twelve hours of work here, I have an hour travel each way, so I'm up to fourteen hours. On weekdays, on a good day, I see my kids fifteen minutes. . . . I haven't had much interaction with [my] kids since the hurricane. . . . I'm not exercising and I put on at least ten pounds." © 2002 University Press of Florida. All Rights Reserved. < Back to the Reading Room