Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida on Aug. 24, 1992, as a Category 5 hurricane, with estimated winds at landfall of 165 mph. That made it one of the strongest storms to strike the region.
The date is why the storm is being searched now: Aug. 24 marks the anniversary of landfall, and the numbers still define the event more clearly than any recollection can. A Category 5 hurricane at 165 mph is not a routine landfall. It is the top tier of hurricane intensity, the kind of storm that can overwhelm a place quickly and leave little room for preparation.
What the brief record does not spell out is the full scale of what followed in South Florida after Andrew came ashore. It gives the core facts, but not the damage trail, the recovery, or the human cost that made the storm a lasting reference point. That gap matters because the storm’s power is not only in the classification. It is in what that classification meant on the ground.
So the essential answer is simple: Hurricane Andrew struck South Florida on Aug. 24, 1992, as a Category 5 hurricane with estimated landfall winds of 165 mph. The next question is not whether it was severe. It is how South Florida absorbed that blow, and why the memory of that day still endures when the anniversary comes back around.
