How Hurricane Andrew Forever Changed Florida Insurance and Construction

By Ted Todd Insurance | How Hurricane Andrew Forever Changed Florida Insurance and Construction

In August 1992, Hurricane Andrew made landfall and practically erased entire neighborhoods across South Florida, leaving behind unprecedented financial ruin for tens of thousands of families. For one seasoned insurance professional, Hurricane Andrew was a baptism by fire:

"I remember seeing miles of roofs and debris lined up along the roads. Insurance adjusters didn't have GPS technology back then. They relied on paper maps, but with street signs completely blown away, residents resorting to spray-painting their street names and house numbers right onto the sides of their homes so we could find them."

The numbers tell a staggering story: Andrew completely destroyed 25,000 homes, severely damaged another 100,000, and racked up between $26 billion and $27 billion in losses in Florida alone.

Reflecting on the disaster during a 2017 NPR interview, former FEMA Administrator Craig Fugate explained how Andrew fundamentally altered how insurance companies operate in disaster-prone regions:

"Well, it nearly brought several insurers to the point of bankruptcy. And it forced the state of Florida into developing its own reinsurance fund to encourage and maintain insurance markets. Insurance companies began changing how they covered and how they structured for hurricanes. Andrew showed the follies of how we were building and how we were pricing insurance, that it wasn't sustainable. And we still battle annually with insurance companies who are both leaving and sometimes entering the market, but all based upon their exposures to the hurricane risk."

— Craig Fugate, former FEMA Administrator

As Fugate noted, Andrew exposed major flaws in Florida’s building practices. At the time, construction was governed by a confusing patchwork of over 400 separate local building codes. In response, the Florida Legislature replaced those fragmented rules with a unified statewide standard: the Florida Building Code.

Modern codes mandate storm-resistant construction features like reinforced window frames and impact-resistant laminated glass. The Florida Building Codes continue to be updated as hurricane season becomes more unpredictable. According to FEMA, these strict post-Andrew building standards currently protect over 890,000 structures from destructive winds and 150,000 structures from flooding.

Don't wait for a hurricane warning to test your property's defenses. Contact a licensed general contractor and a certified wind-mitigation specialist today to evaluate your home's structural readiness and identify key upgrades.