Pinellas To Mark Hurricane Andrew 25th Anniversary

CLEARWATER, FL – On the morning of Aug. 24, 1992, Floridians across the state woke up to Hurricane Andrew charting a course for Dade County. By 9 a.m., the buzz saw-shaped Category 5 storm began to cut its devastating path through the cities of Homestead, Florida City and Cutler Ridge.

Now, 25 years later, Pinellas County will mark the anniversary of that fateful storm with a Facebook Live event featuring memories of that day while urging its residents to take the time to review and finalize hurricane preparedness plans.

The Facebook Live event will take place on Thursday, Aug. 24 at 3 p.m. on the county’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/pinellascountynews. Inaki Rezola, an Emergency Management Coordiantor with Pinellas County who was in South Florida when Hurricane Andrew struck, will be on hand during the event to give her firsthand account.

“Historically, September is the peak of tropical storm activity, and the last time Pinellas County was directly hit by a hurricane, it occurred in late October,” said Sally Bishop, the director of Pinellas County Emergency Management. “Weather patterns we’ve experienced so far this summer are not a direct indication of what will happen through the remainder of the season. Andrew taught us that even in a slow season, it only takes one storm.”

After striking the Bahamas and South Florida, Andrew hit Dade County, where 160,000 people were left homeless, according to the National Weather Service. Only six hours before Andrew hit Homestead, the National Weather Service had predicted landfall to hit Jupiter as a much less powerful storm.

Hurricane Andrew then went through South Florida into the Gulf of Mexico, where it turned northwest and remade landfall in Louisiana on Aug. 26. It then traveled northeast, bringing powerful storms and numerous tornados along the Appalachian Mountains corridor.

Pinellas County reports the majority of the activity in a typical hurricane season statistically occurs in the second half of the season. Hurricane season runs from June 1 to Nov. 30. Since 1885 when official hurricane records began, 55 percent of all tropical storms and hurricanes formed during the months of September and October.

To help its residents stay safe throughout the entire hurricane season, Pinellas County recommends the following:

• Sing up for Alert Pinellas at www.pinellascounty.org/alertpinellas to receive emergency notifications via phone, e-mail or text message
• Download the Ready Pinellas app, available from the Apple App Store and Google Play, to help with emergency preparedness before a storm and as a storm approaches
• Stay tuned for weather updates through emergency weather alert radios, local media outlets, the Pinellas County website and its social media accounts
• Check your evacuation zone, which can be found at www.pinellascounty.org/knowyourzone, on the Ready Pinellas app or on the Pinellas County Doing Things mobile app
• Finalize evacuation plans and make plans to stay with friends or family in non-evacuation zones
• Review disaster plans for your family, business and property and obtain equipment like plywood, water, batteries
• Complete survival kits and have important papers ready
• Find and pre-register for the nearest special needs shelter if needed at (727) 464-3800, online at www.pinellascounty.org/emergency/pdf/speical-needs-form.pdf or by contacting the nearest fire department.
• Find and pre-register for a pet-friendly shelter by calling Pinellas County Animal Services at (727) 582-2600 or online at www.pinellascounty.org/animalservices/pets-hurricanes.htm.
• Prepare transportation such as keeping gas tanks filled or find nearest bus stop; PSTA busses run free during evacuation routes before and after storms pass
• Review additional tips and planning tools in the 2017 All Hazard Preparedness Guide at www.pinellascounty.org/emergency as well as local libraries and government offices

For more information, call Emergency Management at (727) 464-3800.

Images via National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration/Department of Commerce