Danny Rivero is our social media editor here at SA国际传谋. You don鈥檛 hear his voice on the radio, but Danny鈥檚 is the voice of SA国际传谋 on , and .
In 1992, he was six years old and living in Fairfax County, Virginia, but he happened to be visiting Miami during Hurricane Andrew. Around the same time, he鈥檇 been listening to tapes of the story, 鈥淭he War of the Worlds鈥� by Orson Welles. His mom would play them for Danny and his brother, Alexis, before they went to bed at night.
Before she ever played the tapes, Danny鈥檚 mom explained the back story of the original 1938 broadcast of a dramatization of 鈥淭he War of the Worlds鈥濃�搕hat people thought this was really happening and panicked. Young Danny was fascinated by this back story as he listened and suspended his disbelief, wondering if this alien invasion really could be happening somewhere.
The day before Hurricane Andrew struck, Danny was in Miami for his uncle鈥檚 wedding. He noticed the adults were transfixed on a green blotch on the TV screen. Six-year-old Danny absorbed that this splotch was scary to adults and meant destruction. However, he had a hard time sorting out whether this was a real broadcast or a dramatization like 鈥淲ar of the Worlds.鈥� Listen to Danny鈥檚 account of Hurricane Andrew through his six-year-old eyes on the player above.Danny鈥檚 family鈥檚 house was alright after the storm, except for a large awning that blew down the street. Danny particularly remembers an uprooted banyan tree:
We went to my聽tia鈥檚聽house in Shanandoah, and聽 they had a big banyan tree or a willow tree with those spreading roots. The wind had just knocked it over. The tree went sideways, and the roots were three times taller that I was.聽 I鈥檓 looking up at this huge wall of roots and it鈥檚 like 10-12 feet high.聽 It was huge to me as a child.聽 I was in awe that yesterday I was walking on these roots, and now they were my ceiling. It was a weird feeling.
You can read or listen to more personal accounts commemorating the 20th anniversary of Hurricane Andrew when you visit our .
