I have been through so many hurricanes I lost count, as for Andrew, I remember that trailer park by Krome , mostly Mexicans on work visa, many did die, that weren't in the official death toll. I worked with Satellite dishes back then, and installed a dish for the National Guard the next day after the hurricane, there was a curfew, and we had to be escorted / monitored, needless to say the sergeant wasn't too happy keeping watch on us till 2 am.
In the D.R. down here most homes are cement block with poured cement slab roofs, this is why hurricanes do not do much damage to homes, but poorer houses are made from wood, and of course the shanty town areas have little defense. Flooding kills most here as folks in the country tend to build their homes near rivers. Hurricane David / TS Federico was the big double whammy back in 1979, it was actually Federico's 3 days of rain following Hurricane David, that killed the most people.
getting back to Andrew, I remember those homes made by that Disney company, Vista something, anyway they had below standard trusses, and almost every home in that new project was destroyed, yet homes across the street in another project, were mostly intact. its all about the roof, once you get a breach your in trouble.
Flooding from a storm surge, is the biggest danger of all, for Fla. I have seen old Black and white photos of when Hollywood, got hit by a hurricane, and it was under a few feet of water. if something like that were to happen again, it would be like Katrina in LA.
