Interview with Muhammed Mukhtar Hasan (Civil Engineer) conducted by Hafsa Dandia on November 22 1992, Miami, FL Hurricane Andrew - visible image from METEOSAT 3 Andrew was approaching the Florida coast. Courtesy National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Adminstration Photo Library:

Mr. Hasan is a Civil Engineer for Dade County. He has held this job for 18 years. His major duties deal with the flow of traffic within the county. He lives in the Kendall area, and his home suffered quite some damage as a result of Hurricane Andrew.

Dandia: What preparations did you make before the hurricane?

Hasan: Our preparations consisted basically of two parts: one is the external work, which is outside the house, and the other is the internal work, inside the house. As far as the external work is concerned, we made sure that our front yard and back yard were clear from all loose items. For example, we did not leave any trash cans or things like that.  Basically, any item which was loose, which could have flown through the air, we made sure was out of the yard.  As far as the internal preparations are concerned, the first thing we did was we put tape on the windows. Then, we made preparations for the storage of water. We had two bathtubs and we made sure we taped them up properly, cleaned them up properly, and filled them with water.  Then, we had some other containers and we filled them also with water so we could use that as drinking water. In addition to that, we also made some arrangements for the portable radio, so we could hear during the hurricane.  I would like to mention, as far as the external preparations are concerned, when we heard the news of the hurricane, we went to the store to get some plywood, and unfortunately, the store was out of plywood. We went to different stores but we could not find the plywood, which we needed to board up the house.  We were unable to board the house.  We had only two pieces of plywood in our house, and we had only two windows which we really boarded. And that's about it.

Dandia: Where were you during the hurricane?

Hasan: During the hurricane, we were in the house.  We were in one of the bedrooms. The bedroom which we selected for our stay during the storm, was one of my children's bedroom. The reason why we selected this bedroom was it has concrete block wall all around. One of the reasons is, our house is a two-  story house, so this is the only room, which is a one story house (structure).  One of the walls is a combination between the two-story and one-story portions.  These walls are very well secured. This is the room that has only one window, which we boarded off. We felt that we would be very safe during the hurricane, if we stay in this room. Basically,   that's exactly what happened.  When we were inside the room, and we had closed the door, we could not hear the sound of storm winds.  It was very quiet during the storm.

Dandia: Who was with you during the hurricane?

Hasan: During the hurricane, all of our family members, my one daughter, two sons, my mom and my wife, we all stayed in that room during the storm. 

Dandia: What were your concerns or thoughts during the hurricane?

Hasan: Basically, we did not have too much concern because we felt very safe.  All we did was turn on our battery-operated radio and we were listening as the hurricane was progressing.  But, we did not have too much concern because we felt that we were very well secured.

Dandia:What did you do right after the hurricane?

Hasan: Right after the hurricane, actually, when the storm passed, we opened our door, and we noticed that our sliding glass door was broken.  We got a peek of the outside world. What we saw was our fence was down, and we could see far away like the open field. That's how we got the first glance of the hurricane. Basically, after the hurricane, we found out that the ceiling of our house had fallen down and there were a couple of windows which got blown out.  So, our basic concern was to secure the house from further damage.  What we did was, we picked up some of the pieces of our fence, with some of our family members and friends, and we tried to board the glass door which got broken. 

Dandia: Did you receive help after the hurricane?

Hasan: What kind of help?

Dandia: Any kind of help. That somebody brought food, or somebody helped board up the house.

Hasan: Well, basically, we have some very good friends. After the hurricane, we had little problem in the sense that we could call outside of our area, but the people who were (outside) could not reach us.  When they tried to call us, they could not hear our bell. So we got sort of cut off from the outside world. Somehow, we tried to contact one of our friends, who contacted our friend. One of our friends, Mr. Hamid Siddiqui, came first to help us out.  Basically, the first couple of days, we stayed with him.  As the day passed, there were so many people who knew that there was a shortage of water, and food and that sort of thing.  Even though we did not need that kind of help, there were some of our friends that brought canned food to us.  One of my friends, who lives as far as West Palm Beach, somehow he knew that there was a water shortage in the Kendall area. By the way, we live in the Kendall area.  One day, I got a call through one of my friends, that one of my friends wants to see us. We made an arrangement, and he visited us, and as he was leaving, he told us that he heard that there is a water shortage.  He brought us at least twelve gallons of water from West Palm Beach.  That was helpful and we used that water over a period of time. We had quite a bit of inquiries  from our friends and our well-wishers who tried to approach us and tried to help us out as much as they could.

Dandia: Did you provide help after the hurricane?

Hasan: To be honest with you, we were not in a position to offer help to the others because of my job responsibilities.  I was tied up just after the hurricane like twelve hours a day, seven days a week.  So practically it did not leave any time to provide help to the other people.

Dandia: What effect has the hurricane had on your daily life?

Hasan: Well, right after the hurricane, at least for a couple of weeks, we had quite a bit effect on our life.  First of all, from the job point of view, I got too busy from my job responsibilities.  I did not too much time left over to look about myself and about my family.  So, that in a sense, very much affected our life and our routine.  It made things a little bit more complicated. My house was not in a liveable condition, and it was rather difficult to find an alternate living place.  It took almost three weeks just for us to find an apartment to rent. It was quite a change and quite an effect of the hurricane on our normal lives. 

Dandia: Has the hurricane significantly changed your plans for the future?

Hasan: Not really.  I don't believe that the hurricane really effected our lives to the extent where it changed our future. 

Dandia: What are the duties of your job?

Hasan: Let me introduce myself.  I believe I have not done it so far.  My name is Muhammed Mukhtar Hasan. I am a traffic engineer with Dade County Public Works Department.  I work in the traffic engineering section of Highway Division. I am working with Dade County since eighteen years in the Traffic Engineering section.  Basically, there is a unit which is known as Traffic Operation and Design Unit. I am the head of the Traffic Operations and Design unit of the Public Works Department.  I am responsible for the design of all traffic control devices which includes the traffic signals, the roadway markings, and things like that. In addition to that, we also perform the traffic operational studies. Anything which is related to the traffic flow we study it. For example, if somebody needs a traffic signal, we do the study, and based on the study, and make a recommendation.  By the same token, if some citizen feels that there should be a left turn signal at a particular location, we also do the study for that.  We make studies.  However, right after the hurricane, the responsibilities of the different individuals   was changed.  Right after the hurricane, since we were the  part of the traffic engineering unit, our responsibility was   to direct traffic.  I had the opportunity to direct the traffic at SW 122 AVE and Coral Way intersection.  Those were the days when the traffic signals were completely out and traffic was really a mess. That was what we did the first couple of days.  However, after that when things started becoming normal, I was put in charge to do the sign inventories for the whole Dade County. I was really heading   the sign inventory operation right after the hurricane. Basically, we started with inventoring the stop signs first and then we went to the street name signs.  In the third phase of the operation, we put up all the other remaining signs. Later on, with the help of this inventory, this got contracted to different contractors and went into the  installation phase of the operation.

Dandia: What were the main concerns after the hurricane?

Hasan: The main concerns as the governmental agency is to prioritize our operation.  Therefore, the first thing, what we did is put all the stop signs back because those are the most important element of the traffic control. If we would not  have installed the stop signs, there would have been accidents and fatalities and a lot of problems.  So as far as, from the sign inventory portion of the operation, was concerned, that we prioritized.  We put all the stop signs first, and then the second item was the street name signs, because it was difficult for the emergency services and the police to find a particular address to provide the emergency   aid.  We tried to put the street name signs as the second priority. I am talking about the signs inventory section, however, as far as the traffic signal portion is concerned, there were different cities, and the counties and the state who provided us with the seventy crews for the    installation of the traffic signals. These traffic signal crews were doing the signal installation while the sign installation crew was installing these stop signs in the first couple of weeks. To the best of my recollection, so far, we have installed close to 5,000 signs.

Dandia: Have things improved since the hurricane?

Hasan: No, I don't think that things have become normal at the present time.  It is a little bit easier in the sense that instead of working seven days a week and twelve hour shifts,  now we are working five days a week and eight hours a day.  As far as the job pressure is concerned, and the responsibilities are concerned, they have not yet reduced. We still have to put several contracts out.  We have to still   to complete the inventory.  I should mention that our     inventory operation was divided into two phases. Phase one, we picked up all the area north of North Kendall Drive, and in the second phase of our operation, we picked up the area   south of Kendall Drive. The portion south of Kendall Drive is not yet completed. Still, we have to do some inventories. However, we have selected four contractors to do the installation of these signs.  Each contractor will be performing about $500,000 worth of work for the installation  of the signs.  Just to give you some sort of an idea as to the damage to the signs, as far as the street name signs are concerned, just for the area north of North Kendall Drive, we will be installing close to 10,000 signs.  Probably, the number for the area south of Kendall Drive may be much more  higher than this number. We still have a lot of work to do, and still it is going to be several weeks before we come to the normal operation.  One important thing that I would like  to mention, to perform this hurricane operation, we have shut down our normal operations. All these inquiries and all these requests for the studies which we receive are still piling up. In some point of the time in the future, we have to get to that work and to accomplish that work.  It is going to be a long while when things will be normal.

Dandia: Is there anything you would like to add that I have not asked?

Hasan: I would like to say a few things.  We are learning a lot of things from the hurricane, as far as the government agency is concerned.  The system which we are using is concerned,     basically, what we found out after the hurricane, we have two  types of traffic control systems for the traffic signals. One is the mast arm installation and the other is the span   wire installation.  The mast arm installation sustained very   well during the hurricane.  We have a very minor damage. However, the span wire system, was damaged very severely in   the Dade County area. Just to mention this, the federal government gave us a blank check to install close to 400 traffic signals and replace them with the mast arm installation for all the areas south of North Kendall Drive.All that area is going to ba a mast arm installation.  Specifically coming back to the mast arm installation we are also learning that there were certain reasons of the failure   of the mast arm where they had fell.  One of the things was   that if the foundation was put in place, that mast arm sustained very well during the hurricane. However, if the  foundation was precost foundation, that precost foundation   did not do very well during the hurricane. Just a very good   example is the traffic signal at Youth Fair entrance 117 Ave.   The whole arm at this location rotated 180 degrees.  Really, what did it was the mast arm itself did not sustain any structural damage. How this thing was rotated like a pin, it  rotated along its base.  The other thing which we are learning is that the failure of the mast arm occurred at the  base plate where the base plate was not properly installed. At locations where the base plate was installed properly, the  mast arm held very well. However, when the base plate was   not installed properly, most of the failure occurred at the base plate.  What I am trying to mention is that after the   hurricane, the governmental agencies, the professionals who   are involved in the design and construction of these signals,   all the other facilities, they are learning a lot of new things as to what is really good and really bad and what we  should be looking for in the future as to protect from the   further damage if a hurricane hits this area.  For example, with the replacement of the mast arm installation, one thing   which is going to be happening, and which is very sure that  the traffic control is not going to be impaired as much as  during the last hurricane. We hope that with the new mast   arm installation, these mast arms will stand very well during  the hurricane. This was a major hurricane.  This was a major  class five hurricane.  If anything which is sustained this   hurricane hopefully will not damage if the future hurricane   comes in. I really thank you for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts.  I wish you good luck in your project.