1992 Hurricane Andrew and Housing Sensitivity in South Florida

1992 Hurricane Andrew and Housing Sensitivity in South Florida

Another example of the role of sensitivity in creating vulnerability to hazards involves the impacts of hurricanes on mobile homes. As discussed in Module 6, in 1992, Hurricane Andrew struck the Florida coast as a category 5 storm. Many South Floridians still have vivid memories of Hurricane Andrew. It became the costliest storm in history at the time, causing an estimated $25 billion in damages and 17 direct deaths and many more indirect deaths, amounting to approximately 44 deaths. The storm came ashore just to the south of Miami, devastating the town of Homestead. Had it hit the coast just 20 miles to the north, it is estimated that the economic and human costs would have been multiplied more than ten-fold. In the case of Hurricane Andrew, the wind damage had the greatest impact. In the communities impacted, mobile homes received the most severe damage, and the severity of destruction was partially attributed to structural design that could not withstand the winds of a major hurricane. In fact, 90% of all mobile homes in Miami-Dade County were damaged beyond repair. In Homestead, 99% of mobile homes were completely destroyed. Many of South Florida’s poorer residents resided in this highly sensitive type of housing, so they were disproportionally impacted by the hurricane.

Many lessons were learned from Hurricane Andrew in terms of sensitivity related to insufficiently stringent building codes in general and mobile home construction codes specifically.

Destroyed mobile home parks after Hurricane Andrew.

Credit: NOAA Photo Library/wea00566

The production of mobile homes is regulated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) building codes. At the time that Andrew struck, relatively lax building codes from 1976 were in place, making mobile homes especially sensitive to the major hurricane’s intense winds. After Hurricane Andrew, HUD significantly strengthened the building codes to enhance the structural integrity of mobile homes; these improved regulations went into effect in 1994. In addition, the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, which ironically treats mobile homes not as buildings but as vehicles, also placed several stricter rules on mobile home construction in 1996 and 1999.\

The revised mobile home standards have had a dramatic impact on the sensitivity of these structures (Table 1). In the very active 2004 hurricane season, which saw four hurricanes make landfall in Florida, all damages to mobile homes occurred in units built before the federal regulations changed. No mobile homes built after 1994 were damaged. This is a clear example of variable sensitivity to the same hazards based on the quality of construction.

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