Hurricane Andrew
     On my way down to Miami, Florida, U.S.A.  from Calgary, Alberta, Canada  I heard on the radio that hurricane "Andrew" was hitting southern Florida hard. Arriving ten hours after "Andrew" had safely gone by I couldn't get anywhere near the location where I was suppose to pick up a 20 ft. steel container with a helicopter inside.

 
Miami 1992
Miami 1992

photos by Duncan Smith

      After three days in Miami that now didn't have any safe drinking water, electric power to pump fuel or for air condition to keep cool I decided to head north about a hundred miles. I ended at the north end of Lake Okeechobee that I had noticed on the road map earlier. Here I ‘camped out' for a number of days and noticed that there were very few houses around the lake. The next day I watched a group of young boys swimming near by but one was standing on the dock all the time. I guessed at the time that he couldn't swim.

     Later the next day I went swimming at the exact same spot where the boys had been when an hour later an elderly man came by and advised me not to swim here. He said there are lots of alligators in the lake and when the boys were swimming they always had a look-out  (the boy standing on the dock). He also mentioned that the alligators are all about 15 feet long and then pointed to one near by sunning itself on the waters edge.

     A couple of days later I went back to Miami to find the 20 ft. container. It had been blown a half mile away from its location by "Andrew". I loaded it and left Miami then loaded another one in the state of Alabama.

 

Miami 1992 
Alabama 1992
photos by Duncan Smith

       When I arrived back in Calgary the customer and I looked inside the container we found roughly about million dollars damage to the helicopter. There was a large insurance claim filed.

                          Miami Florida U.S.A. to Calgary Alberta Canada is 2900 miles[4667km]


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Last Updated 4 September 2006 17:25