Hurricane Andrew: The 20 miles that saved Miami

Hurricane Andrew’s 1992 rampage caused USD 26.5bn in economic damage (1992 USD), destroying more than 25,000 homes and damaging an additional 100,000. Roughly 60% of Andrew’s economic damage, or USD 15.5bn, was borne by the insurance industry. Non-insured losses from Andrew included uninsured and underinsured residential properties, as well as damage to government property (including the Homestead Air Force Base), agriculture, beaches and marinas. This protection gap — the difference between economic and insured losses — calls attention to the remarkable weight carried by society when natural catastrophes like Andrew occur.