Hurricane Andrew
Overall, Andrew caused about $25.3 billion in damage in Florida, making it the costliest hurricane to hit the state at the time. Some estimates in Florida put the damage as high as $32 billion (1992 USD, $  USD). Almost all of the damage in Florida was caused by strong winds. Of the 44 deaths attributed to the storm, 15 were direct fatalities, while 29 were indirectly caused by the storm. It was later noted that if Andrew had been slightly larger or had made landfall a few miles further north, it would have significantly affected Miami and Fort Lauderdale, which would have resulted in an even higher damage and death toll. An analysis by the American Meteorological Society indicated that unlike most hurricanes, wind damage from Andrew was mostly north of the geometric center and occurred primarily on the eastern edge of the storm. Some officials in Florida considered Andrew the worst storm in the state since the Labor Day hurricane in 1935. The storm surge from Andrew caused more than $500 million in losses to boats and buildings. At the height of the storm, more than 1.4 million people lost electricity and another 150,000 were without telephone service. It is estimated that throughout Florida, the storm damaged 101,241 homes and destroyed approximately 63,000 others – the vast majority in Dade County – with about 175,000 people rendered homeless. In addition to homes, the storm damaged or destroyed 82,000 businesses, of farmland, 31 public schools, 59 health facilities/hospitals, 9,500 traffic signals, of power lines, and 3,000 watermains. Approximately 20 million cubic yards (15 million m) of debris left by the storm were disposed of.
Hurricane Elena
Pinellas County suffered some of the worst damage from Hurricane Elena in Florida. At the height of the storm, over 500,000 of its residents were without electricity. Forty-four single-family homes were destroyed, 31 more were damaged, and several condominiums, townhouses, and commercial buildings were damaged or destroyed. The hurricane also wrecked or irreparably compromised nearly of coastal bulkheads and inflicted minor damage on more. Most of the affected seawalls were degrading or poorly reinforced. Seawalls with higher standards of construction generally remained intact, though even in those cases, overwash from the Gulf of Mexico topped the barriers and deposited large volumes of sand. The hurricane cost roughly $100 million in Pinellas County.
Elena's track parallel to the Florida Panhandle subjected the coastline between Apalachicola and Pensacola Beach to particularly severe conditions that resulted in "significant" property damage there. In Apalachicola proper, winds tore large roofs off buildings, and data from Florida's Department of Natural Resources indicate that 20 residences and one community building in Franklin County were damaged or destroyed. Structural failure was prevalent along the county's waterfront and on islands such as Dog Island; however, it was mainly limited to poorly constructed buildings. Several miles of roadways in the county sustained significant damage, and about of bulkhead was destroyed. Low seawalls allowed crucial points of the causeway to St. George Island to erode, causing it to fail. In Escambia County, the hurricane left $2 million in damages. Throughout much of the remainder of the Florida Panhandle, structural damage was limited, though 100,000 people in the Pensacola area lost power. The configuration of the southern tip of Cape San Blas in Gulf County was changed by the storm. The hurricane wiped out eagle nests, generated freshwater fish kills, and affected other species of wildlife at the St. Vincent and St. Marks National Wildlife Refuges. St. George Island and Honeymoon Island State Parks were heavily affected, with appreciable but lesser damage in numerous other protected areas. U.S. Route 98, which closely follows the coast in this region, required extensive repairs after being undermined in nearly two dozen locations.