One of the most powerful hurricanes to make landfall in the United States, Hurricane Andrew slammed into South Florida on August 24, 2022.
Originally classified as a Category 4 hurricane, reanalysis of Andrew’s data in 2004 resulted in the hurricane’s upgrade in classification to a Category 5 at landfall along the Florida coastline with maximum sustained winds of 165 mph and a minimal central pressure of 922 millibars.
According to NOAA, Hurricane Andrew is “one of only four hurricanes to make landfall in the United States as a Category 5 since 1900 (the others being the 1935 Florida Keys Labor Day storm, Hurricane Camille in 1969, and Hurricane Michael in 2018).”
NOAA further states that Hurricane Andrew “caused an estimated $26 billion in damage in the United States making it at the time the most expensive natural disaster in United States history, not to be surpassed until Hurricane Katrina 13 years later. In Homestead, Florida—the hardest hit community—more than 99% of the mobile homes were completely destroyed.”
Hurricane Andrew moved over South Florida before curving north and making a second landfall in Louisiana. The storm then lifted northeast through Alabama and Georgia.
According to NOAA, “by the time it finally dissipated, Andrew was responsible for 23 direct deaths in the United States.”