re: Which was worse for B.R.? Andrew or Gustav?

Ah Gustav, my second week away from home in a totally new region of the country. Good times.

Gustav was definitely the worst in my 45 years of living in the Greater Baton Rouge area - it was a direct hit, and it really changed my attitude with regards to the deadliness and destruction of hurricanes...

BIL lost everything in Andrew when he lived in Homestead. Moved to Watson 12 years ago and lost everything again last week. Funny thing is, everything he lost last week was all the furniture he bought after Andrew.

Flamingos huddled together in the bathroom at the Miami Zoo during Hurricane Andrew

Andrew's landfall in Florida was absolutely insane. One of the strongest hurricanes ever at the time of landfall. The straight line wind was absolutely destructive. You don't see that much with hurricanes.

There are some unreal stories. Meteorologist Bryan Norcross' coverage is legendary.

I wasn't there for either but I am a hurricane junkie and from the objective data and anecdotal info received from people who experienced Betsy, Andrew and Gustav - Gustav wins and its not close.

I met my wife because of Gustav (not sure if that's bad or good, haha). I grew up closer to the coast, so Hurricanes were always a bit more intense. But I'll admit that Gustav was as bad for BR as any storm that had hit where I lived before. Definitely worse than Katrina (was in like 1st grade for Andrew). But as luck would have it, I lived on Brightside and we never lost electricity. It actually just turned into a week long drunk fest. Come to think of it, we didn't lose power for Katrina either, guess I'm pretty lucky with storms in BR.

Gustav

Most of the people on this board were 4 or younger when Andrew hit. They don't know shite