History of Florida
Hurricane Andrew in August 1992 struck Homestead, just south of Miami, as a Category 5 hurricane, leaving forty people dead, 100,000 homes damaged or destroyed, more than a million people left without electricity, and damages of $20–30 billion. Much of South Florida's sensitive vegetation was severely damaged. The region had not seen a storm of such power in decades. Besides heavy property damage, the hurricane nearly destroyed the region's insurance industry.
History of the United States (1991–2008)
On August 24, 1992, the category-five Hurricane Andrew made landfall in South Florida, devastating the southern suburbs of Miami, including Homestead, Kendall, and Cutler Ridge. Two days later, the storm made landfall again in a sparsely populated part of Louisiana, with relatively less damage than in Florida. The storm killed 26 people directly, 39 indirectly. With $26 billion in damage, it became the costliest storm in history at that time. The storm was known for many controversies including the sluggish federal response, which may have impacted President George H.W. Bush's image on domestic issues, as well as poor housing construction which may have led to such high levels of destruction.
In March 1993, a massive storm, known as the "Storm of the Century" or "Superstorm" struck the Eastern Seaboard of the United States. The storm set low pressure records; produced hurricane-force winds, storm surge, and killer tornadoes in Florida; and produced snowfall up to across many portions of the Eastern United States. The storm was particularly crippling to the Southern United States, where places like Birmingham, Alabama received one-and-a-half feet of snow and record low temperatures, highly unusual for the region. In all, 300 deaths were attributed to the storm and $6 billion in damage was caused.