Bart Mackleen was in a state of disbelief when he heard about the devastation of southern Miami-Dade, called Dade County back then, after Hurricane Andrew.
"This [the hurricane] took everything away," he said. "You couldn't recognize where you were."
Mackleen, then 47, was one of many who drove down U.S. 1 to witness the devastation firsthand. Video camera in hand, he went from Coconut Grove south to Homestead, where the worst of the damage was. He recorded everything he saw: Planes upside down. Boats tops-turvy between houses. Halves of buildings gone. Neighborhoods flattened.
The following video is the original footage that was taken days after the storm hit in 1992. It has been edited for length. The voices heard in the video are from interviews — including Mackleen's — recorded through the Miami Stories booth, and WLRN News interviews about Hurricane Andrew.
