From: aberson@enh.nist.gov
Newsgroups: soc.motss
Subject: Andrew
Date: 28 Aug 92 21:33:26 GMT
Organization: NIST

Well, it seems the air conditioner has come on in the computer room, so
I will be connected for awhile.  I first want to thank again everyone who
was so concerned about me this past week.

The conditions here are absolutely horrible right now.  I have not been
into the really badly devastated area, and I do not think I will be allowed
in for a long time (for people who know the area, everything from Kendall
Drive southward has been severely damaged or destroyed.  There are checkpoints 
there, and only people who "live" there are allowed in.)  As it is, I had to 
pass a large sailboat in the middle of the road to get here to work.

After my last post, I went home, and Daivd had just come home from three
hours of shopping to get $20 worth of groceries.  We went to a lumber store
at 6am and got in line for three hours to buy lumber for the house.
We then boarded up the house, put everything outside inside (what a mess!),
put the awnings down, and left with the cats to stay with a good friend.  I 
originally was not going to evacuate because I knew my house was not in a 
flood plain, but as the storm got stronger, I became more and more frightened. 
We went to the friends' house inland, boarded them up, and hunkered down for 
the night.

It looked like the storm would pass well to our south, so we were not very
frightened at that time.  We have many friends further south who called us
through the night for comfort.  One was alone in her house in Coral Gables
with her cats.  Everyone has stories about pets, because they really did know
what was happening.  Her cats were holding on around her neck for the entire
night, and now circle before laying down.  Everyone has been traumatized 
somewhat.  We fell asleep about 1am, and were awakened at 3am by branches 
hitting the roof of the house.  We stayed awake a few hours until the winds 
died down, then fell asleep again.  We awoke again at noon, and ventured 
outside.  It was pretty amazing.

We were in Hollywood, where the winds probably did not reach hurricane
force.  At least half the trees were down, and the yard was about four feet
deep in branches.  Some cars were damaged by falling trees, but that was
the extent of it.  My car and Daivd's were fine, although his had a tree
on it.

We drove home to find trees blocking all the nearby streets.  All our palm
trees (queen, of course) were fine, except the outer sheath was stripped
off one, and they all leaned west.  Our beautiful chlorisia tree was
down, and will have to be replaced.  We will miss its beautiful pink flowers
in October.  It landed in our next door neighbor's plant nursery which was 
demolished.  All the bamboo lost leaves, and there were wires down out back.  
We lost part of a fence and some wiring was stripped from the house.  The 
bird and bunny were fine, although in some state of shock, so we looked
around the neighborhood.  A neighbor's avocado tree exploded so we had some
fresh produce.  The houses in back of us suffered some damage, and a shed
was destroyed.  We considered ourselves very lucky.

We heard on battery radio about all the damage down south.  Nothing could
have prepared us for what we were about to see.  When power came on at our
friends' place we saw aerial photos.  We were absolutely shocked.  These
were places we had spent a lot of time, and where many people we knew lived.
The pictures got worse as the evening went on.

Tuesday was clean up day at home.  We had only radio (radio and tv are
still 24 hours of news on the storm.  We have little idea what else is going
on in the world.), and listened throughout the day.  The stories were 
horrendous.

Wednesday was rest day, with the shock further setting in.  We were still out
of contact with any of our friends in Dade County.

Thursday everything turned to sadness.  I came down here to work, and
every tree was gone.  The building is basically intact with minor damage.
We got out a roster of our employees and tried to contact them.  A number
of them had lost everything, including one who closed on the house last
Thursday.  One co-worker was alone with three children since his wife was
in the hospital giving birth.  The house blew away and the four of them
survived under a mattress and them behind the refrigerator to keep out
of the wind.  Another family of eight was huddled into closets and bathrooms.
These stories are too commonplace and scary to be believed.

Being government employees, many of us were able to rush aid to our own
who were in need.  Many had been without food or water for days.  Many people
down there have not even had relief in their area at all yet.  People are
literally starving.

Dysentery is starting up and mosquitos are beginning to hatch.  This will be
a major health crisis in the next few days.  About 250,000 are homeless,
1 in 10 of the population of Dade County.  Those of us who were unscathed
feel sometimes guilty, sometimes helpless, since there is little we can
do except send food, baby supplies, feminine hygiene products, etc. down
with the National Guard.

Hurricanes are my business.  I have spent years preparing people for them.
There is nothing anybody can do to prepare for something like this.  The
magnitude of the disaster has shocked just about everybody.

I remain without power at home, and probably will for the next few days.
I would give anything for ice (and some people are charging that much
unfortunately).  The entire city of Miami was once before destroyed, in
1926, and it pulled through (some historians consider this disaster one
of the precursors of the Great Depression, as important as the stock market
crash three years later), as it will this time.  I am very sad that this
beautiful city is in ruins.

       Sim Aberson   Ft. Lauderdale, FL   aberson%3328.span@sdsc.edu
"It's always Beach Party Barbie, or Malibu Barbie....  That shit does not
prepare you for the true horror of a real woman's life.  Where is Single,
Abused, Trailer-Park Barbie?"             - Roseanne Arnold
Newsgroups: soc.motss