Hurricane Andrew
Though Andrew was a small tropical cyclone for most of its lifespan, it caused extreme damage, especially in the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana. The vast majority of the damage was as a result of extremely high winds, although a few tornadoes spawned by Andrew caused considerable damage in Louisiana. Throughout the areas affected, almost 177,000 people were left homeless. Outside of the Bahamas, Florida, and Louisiana, effects were widespread, although damage was minimal. Overall, $27.3 billion in losses and 65 fatalities were attributed to Andrew, with some estimates ranging as high as $34 billion. Andrew was the costliest hurricane in U.S. history at the time, but is now seventh following hurricanes Katrina (2005), Ike (2008), Sandy (2012), Harvey (2017), Irma (2017), and Maria (2017).
Hurricane Frances
Some areas of Florida received over of rain as the system moved slowly through the state. Heavy rains caused a large sinkhole to develop on Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County, which closed the highway to traffic. Similar to Hurricane Charley earlier in the month, the Florida citrus crops took large amounts of damage. Frances caused heavy damage to the large Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center, ripping off 820 4-by-10 foot aluminum panels covering the building. While Charley caused $700,000 damage (2004 dollars), Frances' damage was significantly greater. Two external fuel tanks for the space shuttle were in the building but seemed undamaged. The Space Shuttle Discovery's hangar was without power. The total damage to space and military facilities around Cape Canaveral, Florida was reported at about $100 million (2004 dollars). Orlando, Florida's theme parks closed Sunday — only the third time Walt Disney World closed for a hurricane, but the second time in a month.