Hurricane Andrew
Hurricane Andrew first inflicted structural damage as it moved through the Bahamas, especially in Cat Cays, lashing the islands with storm surge, hurricane-force winds, and tornadoes. About 800 houses were destroyed in the archipelago, and there was substantial damage to the transport, water, sanitation, agriculture, and fishing sectors. Andrew left four dead and $250 million in damage throughout the Bahamas. In parts of southern Florida, Andrew produced severe winds; a wind gust of 177 mph (282 km/h) was observed at a house in Perrine. The cities of Florida City, Homestead, and Cutler Ridge received the brunt of the storm. As many as 1.4 million people lost power at the height of the storm. In the Everglades, 70,000 acres (280 km) of trees were downed, while invasive Burmese pythons began inhabiting the region after a nearby facility housing them was destroyed. Rainfall in Florida was substantial, peaking at 13.98 inches (355 mm) in western Dade County. In Florida, Andrew killed 44 and left a record $25 billion in damage.
Hurricane Ike
Ike was blamed for at least 195 deaths. Of these deaths, 74 were in Haiti, which was already trying to recover from the impact of three storms (Fay, Gustav, and Hanna) which had made landfall that same year. Seven people were killed in Cuba by Ike. In the United States, 113 people were reported killed, directly or indirectly, and 16 were still missing as of August 2011. Due to its immense size, Ike caused devastation from the Louisiana coastline all the way to the Kenedy County region near Corpus Christi, Texas. In addition, Ike caused flooding and significant damage along the Mississippi coastline and the Florida Panhandle Damages from Ike in U.S. coastal and inland areas are estimated at $30 billion (2008 USD), with additional damage of $7.3 billion in Cuba (the costliest storm ever in that country), $200 million in the Bahamas, and $500 million in the Turks and Caicos, amounting to a total of at least $38 billion in damage. At the time, the hurricane was the second-costliest in United States history; it was later surpassed by Hurricanes Sandy (2012), Harvey (2017), Irma (2017), and Maria (2017). The search-and-rescue operation after Ike was the largest search-and-rescue operation in Texas history.