This is Billie Houston interviewing Irene Baljet. She is a flight attendant for American Airlines and has a family, a home and a good deal of property in the Kendall area. During Hurricane Andrew she was out of town working for American Airlines and was not able to get home. The interview is being conducted on Nov.6,1992 in the home of Mrs. Irene Baljet.

Houston: Where were you during the hurricane?

Baljet: I was in Atlanta, Georgia.

Houston: Why were you in Atlanta?

Baljet: Well, I work for an airline, American Airlines, and we were coming from Houston to Miami, I'm a flight attendant, and then we were going to cover MiamiAtlanta, Atlanta-Miami. Consequently, the company did not want any airplanes at the Miami airport because of the impending hurricane so they cancelled the AtlantaMiami time. I knew this around 9:00 that morning. I knew I would be passing through Miami at 4:00 that afternoon, but then I would be leaving and I could not return.

Houston: Were you aware of the danger that was coming to this area?

Baljet: Yes, I had watched the night before, Sat. I was in Allentown, PA and I watched the weather channel and by that time Sat. night already it was very obvious that this was going to be a very bad, very big hurricane very bad for the area.

Houston: From Allentown you went to...

Baljet: Houston. Then we slept in Houston, the whole crew did, then the next morning, our normal schedule was Houston-Miami, MiamiAtlanta, AtlantaMiami, and that would be the end of our sequence. We had left Miami Fri. morning when the hurricane was not a really bid threat yet. So, it all developed while we were gone.

Houston: When you heard that the hurricane was becoming a real danger did you want to return to Miami?

Baljet: Yes, absolutely. I just wanted to be in Miami, in my house, with my family.

Houston: What preparations did you make to return home?

Baljet: Well, there was none I could make because it was dependent on the company. The company did not want the aircraft down here. They needed the crew to take it up to Atlanta, so it was not up to me. I couldn't walk out of the airplane and just go home.

Houston: So, you really weren't able to return home?

Baljet:  Exactly.

Houston: Were there other people in the same position?

Baljet: Yeah, the whole crew. In fact at least I had my husband and my daughter that were home and were able to prepare the house, the yard. I have a million plants in my yard, so my daughter worked very hard to secure them and put them in a safe place, but the captain and a couple of other flight attendants were single people and they had no one to tie down their houses. So, there was a great deal of anxiety among the crew.

Houston: What were your concerns or your thoughts during this crisis?

Baljet: Well, I had several first of all, I was concerned about the financial aspect, what was going to happen, what was it going to do to the house. Then I was very concerned about my neighbors. I have a lot of plants. I have a lot of orchids. There was a possibility of a lot of debris flying around, so I asked my daughter to put everything that could be moved in the patio because I have hurricane shutters that go around the patio. In that way everything would be secure. I didn't realize I have a neighbor with tile roof so it didn't matter, the tile went all over the place. I was concerned also about my daughter. She's 22 but sometimes she's very very grown up, but in certain things she's not very grown up, and I didn't know how she was going to react. I also knew that my husband has been heavily trained in the military, so I wasn't upset about him. I knew he wouldn't panic. I knew he would know what to do. I was totally at ease in regards to my husband even though I would have liked to be there. I was more concerned with her because I've always been the provider of, what's the word for it, the softer side in the family. My husband is the rock. I've always been the one they come to when they're feeling sad, when they need to talk about something that is bothering them. Exactly as I thought would happen, it happened. He secured the house, secured the roof and everything that could be secured by himself, worked for 14 hours without even eating and then went to bed. So my daughter was awake all night, listening to the wind, scared to death and... She was in essence by herself through this and that was my concern. I knew it would happen. My husband is very practical and he was of course exhausted and he would say, "hey, there is nothing I can do"...

Houston: He slept through the storm?

Baljet: Well, parts of the night  he woke up around 2:00 or 3:00 when the wind picked up...

Houston: There was no way I could have slept through that storm...

Baljet: He slept some and then he woke up when the trusses in the roof began to really screech and we do have several ceilings cracked so they must have been screeching pretty hard...

Houston: What was your first communication with your family after the storm?

Baljet: Sunday I had spoken to my daughter several times because I was also very worried about my kitty cat. She is an outside cat, she's not in the house and we were concerned that we wouldn't find her to bring her inside and that she would not survive So, I talked to my daughter several times. They couldn't find her. They finally found her and the last time I talked to her was at 10 or 10:30 at night. The cat was in, the house was tied down. I said, "O.K. call me as soon as the storm is over because I need to know that you are ok". If the phone is available, please call me. The next morning around 8:00 an interesting thing happened to me. The crew stayed up until about midnight talking about the storm and what was going to happen. How we were going to get home because we anticipated the airport closing and not being able to get home the next day. Finally at midnight we all said our good nights, went to our rooms, and I watched the weather channel and CNN. I had a room in Atlanta in an old hotel, very nice, that had a bedroom and a living room and a tv in each room. So I had the weather channel on one and CNN on the other. I was going back and forth until about 1:00. At that time I thought this is silly, there is nothing I can do except torture myself, so I turned it off and went to sleep . ... interestingly enough at 5:14 exactly I woke up for no reason and immediately put the tv on and at that time, the tv station was being... the manager had stayed up until the very last minute. The windows were broken, the wind was coming in, the man outside was saying, "we're leaving, this has become hazardous". So, they were completing their transmission, closing down.

Houston: Were you really horrified to hear something like that, "we're closing down"?

Baljet: Oh yes! In all of this without knowing if your family is alright. By then they were saying ... I saw Bob Sheets on television being asked by Peter Jennings or one of the guys on ABC, " I understand you guys have sustained alot of damage", and the thing that really bothered me was the man says, "yeah, but we are OK", but you could see tears in his eyes. He definitely was very shaken. I don't know but I think he had sustained personal losses or he was  just in total shock over what they had witnessed because it hit the hurricane center very badly.

Houston: Yes, they lost their satellite dish.

Baljet: You could see that here is a man that his life's work is studying about these things and working with these things and you don't expect him to be as shaken as I thought he was... he said it very fast which immediately indicated to me that we're not fine. It was frightening not to be here, and I'm sure it was very frightening to be here as well.

Houston: But not to be here also when you have loved ones in a storm like that and then to hear on the tv that we're closing down, that's very frightening. When did you return to Miami?

Baljet: O.K., the first thing that happened was that at 8:00 my daughter called me, the phones were working and she said, "Mom, this is terrible", and I could hear her voice. Of course, my next question was, "is everyone OK?". She said, "yes", my next question was, "is the house OK?". She said, "yes, but everything is gone in the neighborhood" She was shaken. So, I asked her to put her father on the telephone, and he's the coolest cucumber, this man, 'put I could hear an edge to his voice that I have never heard and we have been through clot together in 26 years. There was this edge and when I asked about a silly question, I asked about some of my trees... finally he said to me, "Irene, it's total devastation around here". Well, when he said that I told the captain, we met for breakfast, we had little meeting as to how we were going to get home because the airport was closed. We had heard that American had lost the Ionesphere Club. We had seen an airplane at the airport all broken up with the nose down. So we are looking at maybe not getting back to Miami for a few days. He called a meeting for breakfast and find out what other avenues we could explore. I kept saying to them something is wrong, something is very wrong in Miami otherwise my husband would have... there is something about the way he is saying, "we're fine, we're fine" but I could hear other than that. So we determined that we would wait for the company to get back with us that Monday night. We knew coming back Mon. was out of the question, so Mon. night they told us we would come back Tues. morning. Tues. morning we awaken only to be told "no" we were not going home because the airport continued to be closed, and for some strange reason, we could not come home through Ft. Lauderdale because all the flights were full of people trying to get back. Not being able to get into Miami placed a real heavy load on Ft. Lauderdale. So we met again for breakfast. The crew decided we would rent a van and drive down to Miami. Unbeknownst to them, the majority of them never drive, always fly as most of us do, they thought we were maybe 6 hours from Miami. I told them you're 11 hours, my son lives in Atlanta and I know it's 11 hours and that's probably driving a little bit fast. Then the only car we could get was a big American car with places for 6. There were 6 of us, but imagine sitting with 6 people and luggage for 11 hrs. The captain said' "No it's not... that's too much ...let's wait and see what the company does". The captain said, "OK tomorrow is Wed., if we do not get priority passes, and Miami doesn't open, I'm renting a car. Whoever wants to join me, I will drive for 11 hours or whatever it takes because he was one of those whose wife is a flight attendant and she was stuck up north in Newark. They were both stuck elsewhere and their house was totally with no one

Houston: All the people in the crew were from Miami?

Baljet: Yes, all Miami based. So he was beginning to get concerned even though he talked to friends who live up north, in the northern part of the county, but they still had damage, a little bit of damage because they live by the water. He wanted to get home. Luckily the next morning when we got up, we heard that the company was bringing us through Miami airport and we had priority passes, so we would get on. But of course all this time we were watching CNN and watching Homestead and all of these things. I saw my husband's office building which was one of the buildings, this happened Monday, that was being flashed through CNN as being one of the most damaged buildings in the Dadeland Center. Here I'm looking, this is our livelihood, and here I'm looking and there are no windows left. He has the penthouse. I'm just going berserk. I'm saying, you know our livelihood is there... after I calmed down and we were having dinner, the captain asked me, "How is your husband?" You know the building you saw on tv is his building, and then I realized that his office is in the south end of the building. The end that really got it was the north end of the building. In fact, one of our close friend's office was totally devastated because his is on the north end.

Houston: You saw the pictures of Homestead? Florida City?

Baljet: Uh huh, all of that was being flashed through CNN.

Houston: I bet you couldn't believe it?

Baljet: It was really strange. It was like you were seeing a movie. You keep thinking, that can't be... I don't know what you think but I remember when I drove home from the airport, and then I remembered that I had parked my car under a tree at the airport, so I was worried about that. You know God was with me all along because the tree fell in the other direction so it didn't damage  my car. But, Wed. when I drove into our neighborhood... all this time I had wanted to cry when I saw the pictures on tv... so I had not allowed myself to cry but this complete devastation, all these people that were showering without any water and by this time my phones didn't work so I couldn't communicate with my family. They came back, the phones came back on Thurs. So, I'm driving towards my neighborhood and as I'm driving south on the Palmetto, it is getting worse and worse progressively,and the knot in my throat is getting higher and higher. I made it a point to drive through Sunset because I wanted to look at a nursery on 87th and Sunset. I could not believe my eyes because there were trees that were maybe a yardyard & 2 in diameter of the trunk, and they were down. Then I came down 87th and the sidewalks were up, uprooted by the trees when they fell. The nursery in question was devastated. By now I'm getting close to home and beginning to get a knot in my stomach that says,"Do I really have a house standing?". Did they not tell me not to worry me because there was nothing I could do away. I'm beginning to really get fearful and anxious. When I got to Kendall and 97th, I was stopped by the National Guard and they asked for my driver's license. I lost it completely. I was not crying, I was balling! The poor soldier was looking at me, and I'm fumbling through my bag and I can't find my driver's license, so I finally ,in shear frustration, handed her my airline I.D. card which has no address on it. It really didn't serve the purpose, but, I think she realized that I was in such bad shape at that moment that she just waved me on.

Houston: So then you got home. The first time you saw the house, do you remember how you felt?

Baljet: I had felt it all along. I had looked at everything. We had what I felt was a very beautiful yard and suddenly I felt, my God, it looks like Connecticut in the winter. There was not a single leaf on anything. Everything was brown  parching heat. Wed. was one of the hottest days... no rain. The rains came a couple of days later. Everything was absolutely brown like you never see in Florida. You never see that landscape. everything was down. It was like a ghost town. My husband came out and of course I just lost it again. I could not believe what had happened. By this time he had put some things, had started cleaning up, had started to salvage some things in the yard

Houston: So, you really didn't see the worst of it?

Baljet: No, I saw the... he worked very hard those few days with my daughter. My daughter thinks tile rooves should be outlawed because she is the one who had to carry them. Most of the tiles are in my green house, I still have tiles there. So, they had really worked and that's another thing that I feel real bad about. Alot of people say to me, "oh, you were so lucky you were not here". I totally disagree with that because number one, you feel the guilt for not being here and helping to tie down the house. Here I was in a hotel, airconditioned, having a nice meal and my husband is out for 14 hours straight putting up shutters. My daughter is carrying in all my plants. And when it happens, you are not there to either comfort them, the comfort that comes from all being together or do the physical work that needed to be done. So it was... I don't consider myself lucky, I don't.

Houston: When you're traveling and you meet people, do they ask about S. Florida, or is it already kind of history?

Baljet: Unless I bring it up people don't ask. If they hear that we are from Miami, right after the hurricane, they would ask, "How did you do during the hurricane?" But now they really don't. I have to almost bring it up or it has to be brought up by the fact that I live in Miami and then they're curious.

Houston: Soon after the storm, was it different? Did the people seem concerned or was it the same? They don't live here so they saw it on the news one day and then they forgot it?

Baljet: They saw it on the news. They felt very sorry for S. Fla. but I didn't notice an extreme concern. Because even on Sunday when we landed in Miami, around 3:30 in the afternoon, everyone was looking at the road that leads from the Keys... ( interrupted by a phone call).

Houston: (Tape not running) Have you experienced any positive outcomes from this experience?

Baljet: Yes, I personally have... I think you're whole outlook changes. Suddenly I have friends and coworkers that have lost everything, all their personal belongings. Things that cannot be replaced by insurance money. In thinking that if it happens to them, it could happen to me. I look around my house and the things that mean alot to me, that are mementos and all that, I realize that I should not have that much of an attachment because these things are expendable. They're here today but they could be gone tomorrow. Material things?

Baljet: It really reiterates, "yes, these are nice to have but you shouldn't get too attached to them. They're not!" that important. I also think what immediately you saw in S. Fla. was the fact that people were friendlier. They suddenly began to talk to each other. You also saw some bad things. I think it brought the best and the worst out of everybody.

Houston: I mean for you, personally?

Baljet: The basic thing it did for me was to once again, make me realize what's important. What's important is your health, your safety, your personal safety, and the rest is just gravy but you can live without it.

Houston: The last question is... Is there anything else you would like to add that I may have not asked that you feel is important to this whole experience?

Baljet: Well, I wish I had had the time ...if I had not had the house and the yard as big as it is. We spent about 2 weeks cleaning it up because it was a jungle. I wish I had some time to be able to help more the people further down south that needed help so desperately. I'm thinking about doing it now because as we all know, at first people help and now people forget and no one helps.

Houston: There's still a need.

Baljet: I was left sort of wanting to go and everyday I said, I'm going to call the traffic control and volunteer to direct traffic which my daughter thought I would be very good at since I'm so bossy, but I never got around to doing it because there was so much to do here. I did have a friend that had a death in the family that same week... but that was all I could do. I really wish I could have done more in that sense.

Houston: You were overwhelmed with your own...

Baljet: Yeah, with our own mess!

Houston: I don't think it's too late. Maybe you'll be able to do something yet.

Baljet: I'm thinking about it.