Andrew’s building-enhanced, swirling gusts deposited a Chevrolet Corsica on top of both a concrete wall and an Olds Calais, looking NW in the parking lot of the office building then housing the National Hurricane Center. The Oldsmobile belonged to NHC meteorologist Hugh Cobb, who had flown to NMC (now NCEP) in Washington as part of a backup crew. He unexpectedly learned what happened to his car by seeing this scene live on CNN. The airfoiled little Chevy was an Avis rental used by Ron Girellini, a cameraman at WCBS-TV in New York who was covering the storm. Ron e-mailed me many years later to identify that vehicle in this 35-mm slide. Taken less than 12 hours after Andrew buzz-sawed through South Florida, this has become one of the most iconic images of the hurricane’s wrath, despite being outside the eyewall and north of the greatest winds. The next slide shows the cars from above and explains how this can happen.
Coral Gables, FL (24 Aug 92) Looking NW
25.7131, -80.2777Car on Car
Andrew’s building-enhanced, swirling gusts deposited a Chevrolet Corsica on top of both a concrete wall and an Olds Calais, looking NW in the parking lot of the office building then housing the National Hurricane Center. The Oldsmobile belonged to NHC meteorologist Hugh Cobb, who had flown to NMC (now NCEP) in Washington as part of a backup crew. He unexpectedly learned what happened to his car by seeing this scene live on CNN. The airfoiled little Chevy was an Avis rental used by Ron Girellini, a cameraman at WCBS-TV in New York who was covering the storm. Ron e-mailed me many years later to identify that vehicle in this 35-mm slide. Taken less than 12 hours after Andrew buzz-sawed through South Florida, this has become one of the most iconic images of the hurricane’s wrath, despite being outside the eyewall and north of the greatest winds. The next slide shows the cars from above and explains how this can happen.
Coral Gables, FL (24 Aug 92) Looking NW
25.7131, -80.2777