Interview with Solomon Graham (Athletic Supervisor of Campus Sports and Recreation/University of Miami) conducted by Dan Dalke on November 12, 1992, Miami, FL.. Hurricane Andrew - An ocean-going tugboat left high and dry by storm surge. Courtesy National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Adminstration Photo Library:

Dalke: Okay Soloman, first question. Hurricane Andrew hit South Florida on the first day of orientation at the University of Miami. Do you feel that the University was equipped for a disaster such as this? If not, what do you think could have made the University better prepared?

Graham: Oh boy. Let me see. Do I think the University was equipped for a hurricane.. like that? Well, no. I don't think so, because I don't think the University thought the hurricane was goin' to be as severe as it did. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even equipped for it myself. Uhh, we was ready for a hurricane, but not hurricane Andrew. That hurricane was somethin' else!

Dalke:  Do you think the University could have been better prepared?

Graham: Well, uhh. That's a hard question for me. I assume they might have, or could have been. Umm, well at Campus Sports and recreation, we made the normal preparations that we normally do, when a storm is promisin', and even what we did wasn't enough, because we wasn't expecting nothing like hurricane Andrew. So, that question is kind of hard to answer.

Dalke: Okay.

Graham: Maybe or maybe not.

Dalke: Umm. You kind of answered this. Before the hurricane, was campus sports and recreation ready for another year? I guess, was everything looking like it was going to be a normal year here at campus sports?

Graham: Yes. I would say yeah.

Dalke: Okay. Where were you and your family when the storm hit?

Graham: Ahh, in my home in bed, sleepin'. No, it wasn't sleepin', it was waitin' for it to come get here. And it keep gettin' rougher and rougher, and it was something else. I went out after, uhh, after a little while, the heavy wind was blowin' and limbs were comin' down, shudders on the house beatin' against the house, and just sit in the dark and ride it out.

Dalke: What kind of preparations did you make for your home?

Graham: Well, the normal things, like tie the light thing in the backyard down, and put the shutters down on the house, and I'm not into that taping the windows, so ahh with the shutters down you wouldn't need the windows taped. There are a couple of windows that don't have shutters, but there on the west side of the house. So, even with the windows being taped I think a couple of those got crashed, not the windows on the house, but on the car shed. And most of the junk I have in the backyard, like barrels, and wheel barrels, and drums, I put all those under the shed, and sort of bolted down like.

Dalke: Okay. What thoughts stick out in your mind when you think about the hours when the storm was passing through South Florida?

Graham: (Laughing). What thoughts stick out in my mind. Well, is the house goin' stand up? And luckily it did. I got very little damage to the roof. I own one of the older house, where they really built 'em. Not one of those buildings that'll only last twenty years, and it stayed pretty good, because the roof is fairly new, maybe one or two little pieces have blew off the roof. A tree came down and ripped the wire away from it, and no power, and besides that its still pretty good.

Dalke: Okay. When you first stepped outside after the hurricane, what were your initial thoughts? What were some of the things you saw that really shocked you?

Graham: Wow, all the trees are down, and all the power lines are down. I've never experienced nothing like it before, not even close to it. And it was somethin' to see, and uhh even a day or two after you still couldn't believe it. It was something else, it was really something else.

Dalke: What kind of damage happened in your neighborhood?

Graham: Well the lady right across the street from where I live, a tree came down across her car, and before the storm even pass by; she's an old lady, she was a little upset and worried, I usually help her out from time to time. And she was over worried if I could come over and help her get the tree off the car, before it does any more damage to it. And I thought please, just go back into the house and stay there for a while, cause it might not be over with yet. I mean the wind was still blowin' pretty good, and there was still rain, and I told her that later on in the daytime when it cools down a little, I'll come over and get the limbs off your car. That scared me more than the storm, because the storm was almost still carrying on and that old lady, in the rain came across the street beatin' on the house. I thought it was still the wind beatin' the door against house, and seein' her out there, that scared me worse than the storm almost.

Dalke: Okay. When you first saw the campus what were your thougths? What did you think, or how long did you estimate that it would take to clean it up?

Graham: I really didn't know, because the condition the campus was in, with just the normal cleanup, without any outside help, uhh I knew that with the help that the University had, was just, you know day in and day out help that they have here (referring to Physical Plant and Ogden) it would be some time for them to clean up the campus, I didn't know that when I first got back to work that they was goin' to send out, you know and get outside contractors, and they was goin' to do this and that, and the lesser time they take to clean it up, it was amazing. I had no idea they would get it cleaned up like this, in this condition, in this short period of time, but I had no idea they would go about it the way they did. They pulled in all these rigs, from God knows where, they had trees grinned up, and stacked up, as high as you could see almost. It was just amazing how they went about gettin' the campus back in shape as quick as possible.

Dalke: What was the attitude of the people in your neighborhood (South Miami)? Umm, did you see people helping each other out after the storm?

Graham: Oh yeah, the attitude was much different from the attitude before the storm.

Dalke: How so?

Graham: Like, I don't know, maybe fear brings people closer, makes them feels different about others or what, but it seemed like the whole neighborhood was a little more like you see everybody they pass and say "hello, how you doin'? What happen to you?", this and that, people is speakin' and wavin' to those who they'd never speak and wave to before and really everybody was just like umm, really stickin' together, tryin' to do what they can for the next person. Because there was no water and electricity, and if you'd never been in that situation before, it is somethin' to be in. And it was amazing.

Dalke: Okay, besides working at campus sports and recreation, you also do landscaping on the side. Did you use any of these skills after the storm?

Graham: Well, uhh, after the storm yeah. Because we have some pretty good customers who have been with us for a number of years and uhh, like a day after the storm, or maybe the same day of the storm, we went by the most of them and check them out, see how they was gettin' along, and see how much damage they had, or whatever we could do for 'em. The one we couldn't get to, alot of trees were down across so many of the roads, and we probably went around by most of the customers we had. Luckily some of them live by the Gables side close to the downtown side, so they didn't have to much damage, but umm some of 'em have pretty good damage, and we went out and did what we could for 'em.

Dalke: Did you notice any cases of price gouging by landscapers?

Graham: Well, I would think so, because uhh anytime something like that happens you ahh is into somethin' you haven't experienced before, you has to estimate a price. If you talkin' about clearin' up limbs and trees or somethin' like that you don't have a book or a scale to go by, so you set your price. And whoever your settin' your price to they don't have a scale to go by, so they don't know if it's to much or to less, and uhh they need the work done so if they feel like its more than what it really is, they goin' probably still goin' to get you to do the work. So, I would say yes, I see alot of it, yeah some of it.

Dalke: Did you notice a particular case where you someone really get ripped off or?

Graham: Umm, nahh. I can't say right off hand. I don't have in mind no particular case. Most of the time when something of this nature comes about, people has a knack of sort of ahh uppin' the price, cause they knows in your situation that you gotta have the work done, so. It ain't a normal thing to do, but it's a nice opportunity to do it, and thats what happened most of the time.

Dalke: What is your assessment of how the city handled the cleanup in your community?

Graham: Good. I would think. Good. I would have to say that, because the city and the county jumped right in and done alot of work right away, by cleanin' up the roads. Well, the power was out and down for some time, but in my area, there was alot of areas hit much worse than my area so I assumed they was in the worse areas, before they got into my area. The power was out in my area for a week or better, while it was out in other places much longer than that. So I would have to say the city and the county both done a heck of a job. With as much work that had been out there to try and get back right.

Dalke: Just a couple of more questions Sol. In your opinion, has the destruction created alot of work opportunities for those not normally in the landscaping business?

Graham: Uhh yes. I would think so. That it created alot of jobs, it also destroyed alot of jobs. When you look at from that point of view, from the factories and businesses and stuff that blowed away, the people that was once employed is not employed anymore. Its hard to compare: the people that is out of a job or the people that got new jobs, so its really hard because it will be sometime before things get back to normal. I would think so.

Dalke: Okay Sol. What good if any has come about because of the hurricane?

Graham: Its hard to tell. What good if any has come about? Well, the only good I can see so far that has come out of it is that alot of people are still alive, that could have been messed up or could have lost their life. When you look at it from that point of view. For how long its going to last that the neighbors come closer together, is yet to be seen. What good if any... Well, that question is way up on the scale. Well, I think that everyone learned more about the home that they are living in, and how the state or government, or whoever passes the inspection for them to be built the way they was built, the contractors or whoever you point the finger at, because so many houses wasn't up to standards, like the singles didn't have the proper amount of nails in 'em, and so many two by fours, the top of so many homes, like the nails didn't hit the studs, if you look at it from that point of view is it good to know that what happened in the past and now they have to rebuild to make sure that it wouldn't happen, that it don't happen again, uhh you could say that that is good out of it. So, I really don't know.

Dalke: Only time will tell. Do you feel that the University and South Florida will be better prepared in case of another disaster such as this?

Graham: (Laughing). Yes, I think yeah. I think this not only shook the University uhh, but South Florida. We haven't seen, when  last had a big storm, like we had alot of promisin', to me, I didn't think we would get this one. And the next time they say a storm is headin' our way, I think they are goin' to think harder on it, they are going to take it more seriously. Not only the University, but everybody. And probably, I'm not quite sure, maybe they'll prepare a little different, and maybe a little better.

Dalke: Any last comments you want to add for the record Mr. Graham?

Graham: No, but umm thank for you choosing me to do this interview, and I was much nervous (laughing), and I hope I didn't mess up to much.

Dalke: No Sol, you did a good job!