Effects of Hurricane Andrew in Florida
Strong winds from the hurricane significantly affected four counties in the state, which damaged or destroyed over 730,000 houses and buildings, while leaving more than 1 million without power. The storm surge impacted portions of Miami-Dade County, peaking at around 16.9 feet (5.2 m) just north of Homestead near the Burger King International Headquarters; the surge caused significant damage to boats and to the Charles Deering Estate. The nationwide maximum rainfall total from the hurricane was 13.98 inches (355 mm) in the western portion of Miami-Dade County. No major flooding was reported in the state. The hurricane caused about $25.3 billion (1992 USD) in damage and 44 deaths in the state—15 directly from the storm's effects and 29 indirectly related. Many other sources, however, estimated that Andrew caused more than $32 billion in damage in the state. Andrew was, at the time, the costliest hurricane in the history of the United States; it was surpassed in subsequent years by Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Hurricane Ike in 2008, Hurricane Sandy in 2012, and hurricanes Harvey, Irma, and Maria in 2017.
Immaculata-LaSalle High School
On August 24, 1992 Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida, resulting in 15 deaths, more than 250,000 temporary homeless, and $20 billion in damages. An additional 25 lives were lost indirectly. Hardly any part of South Florida was unaffeceted and recovery took years. La Salle High School was no different. Both La Salle High School and La Ermita de la Caridad National Shrine awoke to four rather large cabin cruiser boats on several locations on the campus. Although still on summer vacation, many of the students from the class of 1993, 1994 and 1995 participated in an intense two-week cleanup. Without the help of these students the school simply could not have opened on time only two weeks later. Incredibly, even though the storm surge reached the schools second floor, the statue of Mary Help of Christians was untouched according to Jose M. Pazos class of 1995. This statue was located in front of the cafeteria courtyard right next to a 34 ft boat that had landed there during the storm. For months many of the students and parents raised money to repair the school. Many alumni also contributed assistance by way of political influence in order to assist in the cleanup particularly of the mountain of debris located behind the science building. The City of Miami was very gracious in donating the bulk waste machinery needed to clean up the debris. Thankfully under the direction of Father Patrick Angelucci, principal from 1991 -1995, the school was able to come back even stronger than before.