It may be hard to compare Hurricane Andrew to the most recent storms. Back then we didn't have the instant TV coverage I had never heard of FEMA before.
I worked for a large construction company at the time,our company and 5 others all signed up with Army Corps and FEMA to clean up South Dade Co.
Each company had there own area to clean up and their own dump sites. These areas did not overlap each other so you pretty well had full control of your area unless the US Army dropped in to do some clean up.
It was very hard to get around being new to the area didn't help. No street signs or land marks. A lot of locals coming back home could not find their way cause it all looked the same.
When we arrived we had to unload a couple of loaders to clear the way to get to our base camp near the Homestead airport. We worked 12 hours a day 7days a week for the first 3 weeks. After that we got Sundays off.
We had 80-100 crews working for us. Each crew consisted of 2 loaders, 2 flagmen, 1 chainsaw man and 3 laborers. Each crew had 8-16 dump trucks depending on how far the dump was. In the first month it was rare if a truck could get 2 loads a day. Traffic would be bad, get stuck behind a power crew convoy, get lost on the way to the dump or the way back or run into conflicting road closures cause the Army dropped in. Some times you just couldn't get there from here.
We would clean up any and all storm debris as long as it was in the right of way. At first we were only going to make 2 passes thru each neighborhood. Opening up the roads and removing the trees was the easy part.
People couldn't clean up their property until they got back home or their insurance company had come to see it. Others were not able to do it on their own and had to hire help to do it. It became very obvious it take way more than 2 passes to get every thing. You could go thru 1 development in 2 days and on the 3rd it would look like nothing had ever been done.
Every day you had to take an Army Corp inspector around to see what area you were working in and how many crews you had. Each piece of equipment and truck had a sticker on it the inspector had to see. That could not be done in 12 hours so they added more inspectors. Never had the same ones 2 days in a row. It was kinda like the movie "Ground Hog Day".
My area was the farthest from the main compound, a trip to the office and back would take 8 hours easy. I always brought an extra hand with me where ever I went so he could wake me up when traffic started moving.
If any thing broke down or had a flat it could not stay in the neighborhood over night. Had to be parked at a tent city or any Army post over night. Ruined a lot of tires running them flat to get to safe perking spot. Any thing left over night would be gone in the morning. ANYTHING.
Communications was just about impossible,not many cell phones back then and no towers for company radios. Best thing was to send a note with a dumptruck.
One day a dump truck driver found a kids doll and tied it on his grill. 2 days later everything had dolls all over them. I had a stuffed bears head in the back of my truck, from 20 feet away looked like a real bear laying in the back of truck.
Saturday after work I would drive home to do laundry and get a good meal. I was only able to be home for 21 hours but it was well worth it. So nice not to smell that nasty rotten and decaying smell that was every where.
More later.
Pete
