Lessons from Hurricane Andrew

At dawn on 26 August 1992 Hurricane Andrew made its first landfall on the Louisiana coast at Point Aufer Island. This category four storm had already caused 16,000 M of insured losses [Ref.1] in southern Florida before it hit a rural region of southern Louisiana near Morgan City, 115 km west of New Orleans. The winds caused by Hurricane Andrew effected the built environment of coastal Louisiana in various ways that depended on the level of designer input and the construction quality control. A variety of commercial buildings, dwellings and engineered structures were examined by a United States National Science Foundation funded disaster team and a summary of their findings is presented here; along with some useful design suggestions for hurricane or cyclone-prone areas.