Hurricane Andrew
Post-analysis on Andrew revealed that the storm was often stronger than operationally reported between early on August 22 and early on August 26. In real time, the National Hurricane Center assessed its peak intensity as , which was upgraded to 155 mph (250 km/h) in a post-storm analysis after the season ended. However, a 2004 paper by Christopher Landsea and others concluded that Andrew became a Category 5 hurricane near the Bahamas on August 23 and reached maximum sustained winds of 175 mph (280 km/h). The paper also indicated that Andrew briefly re-intensified into a Category 5 hurricane around the time of landfall in South Florida early on August 24. The storm was found to have been slightly stronger while approaching Louisiana, but the landfall winds were decreased from 120 mph (195 km/h) to 115 mph (185 km/h).
Hurricane Andrew
While Andrew was entering the Gulf of Mexico, oil companies evacuated hundreds of employees from offshore drilling platforms. The storm damaged 241 oil and gas facilities and toppled 33 platforms off the coast of Louisiana, causing significant disruptions in production. Additionally, 83 pipeline segments suffered damage to some degree. The oil industry lost about $12 million per day in the days following Andrew and $4 million daily by three weeks later. Initially, a production loss of 240,000 to 270,000 barrels per day occurred – approximately one-third of production throughout the Gulf of Mexico. Overall, Hurricane Andrew caused about $500 million in damage to oil facilities.