From: clarinews@clarinet.com (UPI)
Newsgroups: biz.clarinet.sample,clari.news.disaster,clari.news.weather,clari.local.florida,clari.news.top
Subject: South Florida slowly recovers, estimates destruction
Keywords: severe weather, trouble, general weather, weather
Date: 26 Aug 92 00:08:16 GMT
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Note: (complete writethru: updating fatals, miami airport open, details)


	MIAMI (UPI) -- A crippled south Florida began the inch-by-inch process
of cleaning up and recovering from Hurricane Andrew as the death toll
rose to 14 and damages were pegged at $15 to $20 billion.
	At least 50,000 were homeless and state officials Tuesday stepped up
efforts to bring in food, water and supplies to provide shelter for the
victims.
	Kate Hale, director of Dade County Office of Emergency Managment,
estimated damage at ``$15 billion to $20 billion.''
	``Dade County is never going to be like it was, it's never going to
be like it was a week ago,'' she said.
	She said the damage estimate would likely increase.
	``It's going to be up there,'' she said. ``With what is going on
elsewhere -- in Louisiana -- it's probably going to be the single most
disastrous event in our (U.S.) history.''
	Hale said relief had started to arrive in South Florida.
	``A lot of progress was made today (Tuesday). We've moved people out
of shelters to their homes in Miami Beach and are taking a lot of people
to shelters who have lost their homes,'' she said. ``We're still looking
at 50,000 (homeless).
	``A large amount of food is arriving. A tremendous amount of water is
coming.''
	Dade County Police Chief Fred Taylor said the death toll in the
county rose to 13, with one additional death in the city of Miami for a
total of 14.
	``I can assure you that's going to rise by a few at a time,'' Taylor
said. ``We have calls about people who we have not located. They're
usually reliable and haven't reported to work or called in. They're in
two or three places in areas that have been decimated.''
	Taylor added, however, the death toll could have gone higher.
	``If the storm had moved in 2 miles further north we might be looking
at 1,000 deaths,'' he said.
	He said restrictions for entering the area south of Kendall Drive
would be tightened. It will be sealed off except for five or six
intersections where those going in will have to convince police they
either lived there or were emergency workers.
	``We couldn't get crews in there because of the sightseers,'' he
said. ``We will restrict the same way in the daylight hours. We're
looking at two days to clean up and get the wires down.''
	Metro Dade Fire and Rescue spokesman Jose Herrera said there were
many injuries.
	``I don't have a number. It's in the thousands. We're even getting
multiple patients on a single call,'' he said. ``I don't want to say
it's 10,000, and I don't want to say it's 2,000. We don't have the
ability to compile those figures now.''
	He said the department was responding to calls of people trapped in
collapsed buildings.
	``It's mostly single family residences. We've had some minor injuries
in those cases as well as severe injuries,'' he said.
	Herrera said the department's resources had been taxed to the limit.
	``We're concentrating on structures where we know people are inside,''
he said.
	Miami International Airport reopened Tuesday and asked airlines to
reduce the number of flights scheduled, said Marc Henderson, public
information officer.
	Henderson said the airport lost power for a short time and while the
runways did not have structural damage there was a lot of debris to
clear.
	The airport is accepting domestic and international flights but is
not accepting international cargo flights.
	Henderson said the airport has asked all airlines to bring in bottled
water for distribution at the airport and throughout South Florida by
the Red Cross.
	Florida Power & Light Co. Chairman James Broadhead said 3 million
people served by 1.4 million accounts had been without power immediately
after the storm.
	``By Thursday morning, we would expect that we would have back in
service almost all of the customers in Broward County and through Palm
Beach, Martin County north and also on the west coast,'' he said.
	However, he said, from Miami's south side south to the Keys ``is just
devastated'' -- and restoring power could take much longer, though he had
no estimate on how long it would take to restore power there.
	Outages remaing Tuesday included Dade, 600,000; Broward, 60,000; Palm
Beach, 2,000; and Naples, 10,000.
	``I think people were very well prepared.'' said Dade County Manager
Joaquin Avino. ``The biggest pressure now is lack of power. Once that
returns it will start getting back to normal.
	Hurricane Andrew roared through south Dade County about 5 a.m.
Monday, slamming into the south Miami area and about 35 miles south to
Homestead with winds clocked up to 164 mph.
	Homestead Air Force Base sustained major damage to virtually every
building, and the adjacent cities of Homestead and Naranja also were
hard-hit.
	Long lines formed Tuesday at the few gas stations that opened in
northern Dade and Broward counties.
	Police said more than 200 people had been arrested since the
hurricane for looting and other charges. One television news cameraman
was attacked by looters as he filmed them.
	U.S. 1 south into the Florida Keys was opened to residents Tuesday
but not to tourists.
	Andrew arrived in South Florida from the Bahamas, where the death
toll Tuesday was put at three. Patricia Glinton, editor of the Bahamas
News Bureau in Nassau, said three deaths were confirmed on north
Eleuthera.
	The victims were identified as Telford Neilly, 16; Viral P. Neilly,
72; both in the settlement of Bluff; and Yvonne Cash, 38, who died in
the settlement of Bogue.
	Gov. Chiles remained in South Florida Tuesday. Lt. Gov. Buddy MacKay
flew to Orlando to pick up supplies and volunteer nurses for transport
to Miami.
	A jet carrrying 120 volunteer nurses from across the state left from
Tallahassee at noon. The plane was to make pickups at Jacksonville,
Gainesville, Orlando and Tampa before flying into Opa-locka Airport.
	Chiles visited Jackson Memorial Hospital and talked to patients
suffering from stress, which he said was the biggest medical problem
associated with the storm.
	``Go south of here -- the devastation that you see -- I was really
trying to reassure some people that in spite of all this, help is on the
way,'' Chiles said. ``I think we've got a lot of things in place and
moving. It's going to take people awhile to sort of experience that and
understand that I think.''
	In Tallahassee Tom Herndon, the governor's chief of staff, said
changing the Sept. 1 primary election date is under consideration.
	``We're looking at the possibility of delaying the elections
(primaries),'' Hendron said. ``The governor's legal staff is looking at
it because we're not sure the governor has the authority to do that.''
	State Insurance Commissioner Tom Gallagher warned those who were hit
by Hurricane Andrew that ``scam artists'' are working the area already.
	``Our concern is that scam artists like to work south Florida anyway.
I want to warn people not to let their guard down. Someone might offer
to repair your roof first in the neighborhood for $50 extra and do the
same with everybody.
	``Then you'll never see them again. They're doing trees too. Make
them clear the trees first and watch them and then pay them.''
	Department of Community Affairs spokeswoman Toni Riordan said the
Florida Emergency Operations Center was flooded with calls since toll-
free assistance numbers were released to the public yesterday.
	Riordan said there are still at least 60 Red Cross shelters open
throughout south Florida. Volunteers manning phones said they get
desperate calls from people at shelters concerning dwindling supplies of
food and water.
	Cruise ship passengers have been allowed to disembark at the Port of
Miami and cruises scheduled for the next week will be allowed to depart.
	Florida's West Coast was largely spared from Andrew, which did cause
some damage to Marco Island in Collier County and trailer parks in
Everglades City.
	About 100 guardsman sent to the Naples area were transferred Tuesday
to the East Coast to join 2,200 guardsman there.
	New York Gov. Mario Cuomo Tuesday sent a wire to Chiles that said the
state was following the effects of Hurricane Andrew with great concern.
	``We understand the difficulties you face and are prepared to assist
in this your of need,'' Cuomo wrote. ``I have directed our State
Emergency Managmeent Office to be ready with all available resources
should you require them. These include emergency generators and water
supply equipment, among other items.''
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