We’re psyched to be able to share a piece of archival Hurricane Andrew ephemera from a familiar voice for some South Florida radio listeners. Joe Johnson  has been a DJ at Majic 102.7 for the last 25 years. He hosts the nationally syndicated “Beatle Brunch” show.

A couple of days after Hurricane Andrew hit, Johnson was on the air doing his part.  He was feeling a little helpless, so he started, “looking for songs that would help paint the picture of what was going on down here. Songs like 'Lean on Me' or 'America' or 'Come Together'.” He finally decided “Riders on the Storm” by The Doors would be the perfect song to accompany an audio snapshot of life after Hurricane Andrew.

One of the themes that’s emerged as we commemorate the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew, is how the storm inspired a lot of good intentions, as well as just pure kindness.

In 2002, Homestead sought to commemorate the tenth year anniversary of the storm. The area had been, by far, the hardest hit during the storm.

Judy Waldman was on the Homestead City Council the year Homestead was planning the commemoration.

She said what struck her most about the time following the hurricane was the way people had banded together and helped their neighbors and strangers.

She said, however, that kindness started to fade after time.

“People just tend to put things in their memory and just they forget. They forget what it’s like to be humbled.”

For Susan Holtzman, the really terrifying parts of Hurricane Andrew didn’t begin until the day after the storm.  Susan was nine months pregnant at Baptist Hospital in Kendall.  It was the day before she was due to give birth.

She compares what she saw to a movie:

…the railroad yard scene in Gone with the Wind where there were just wounded lying everywhere. I mean there were just  people everywhere that were hurt. And there’s a few I remember: there’s a man that had weathered the storm on a boat in a marina and had debris embedded in his back because he had been exposed to the wind.