17 years ago...

Seventeen years ago today Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida.

The Herald's Pulitzer Prize winning coverage of Andrew's aftermath is now behind a pay wall.

But the South Florida Sun-Sentinel has archived the stories here.

(Published Aug. 25, 1992) The lucky ones lost only a tree or two. The less fortunate lost their roofs, their homes or their lives.

Hurricane Andrew arrived in South Florida on Monday morning with 140-mph winds and departed seven hours later, leaving behind more than a dozen dead, thousands of destroyed homes and a million-plus without electricity.

Near Homestead in south Dade County -- where the eye of storm landed -- it was as bad or worse than the most dire predictions.

At least 11 people were killed in Dade, and whole neighborhoods in southwestern Dade were flattened. Homes were blown away, a lifetime`s possessions destroyed and lives changed forever.

And the St.Petersburg Times' special report on the aftermath 10 years later, 1n 2002, can be seen here.