Today in History: August 24, Hurricane Andrew strikes Florida

Today is Monday, Aug. 24, the 236th day of 2026. There are 129 days left in the year.

Today in history: On Aug. 24, 1992, Hurricane Andrew smashed into Florida ; the storm resulted in 65 deaths and caused more than $26 billion in damage across Florida, Louisiana and the Bahamas.

Also on this date:

In 1814, during the War of 1812, British forces invaded Washington, D.C., setting fire to the still-under-construction Capitol and the White House, as well as other public buildings.

In 1912, Congress passed a measure creating the Alaska Territory.

In 1932, Amelia Earhart embarked on a 19-hour flight from Los Angeles to Newark, New Jersey, making her the first woman to fly solo, non-stop, from coast to coast.

In 1949, the North Atlantic Treaty came into force.

In 1954, President Dwight D. Eisenhower signed the Communist Control Act, outlawing the Communist Party in the United States.

In 1981, Mark David Chapman was sentenced in New York to 20 years to life in prison for murdering John Lennon; he has repeatedly been denied parole.

In 1989, Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti (juh-MAH’-tee) banned Pete Rose from the game for betting on his own team, the Cincinnati Reds.

In 1991, in response to a coup attempt by hard-line Communist leaders attempting to reassert control over the Soviet Union, Ukrainian parliamentarians voted to approve a Declaration of Independence for the state of Ukraine.

In 2006, the International Astronomical Union declared that Pluto was no longer a full-fledged planet, demoting it to the status of a “dwarf planet.”

In 2012, a Norwegian court found Anders Behring Breivik guilty of terrorism and premeditated murder for twin attacks on July 22, 2011, that killed 77 people; he received a 21-year prison sentence that can be extended as long as he is considered dangerous to society.

In 2018, the family of Arizona Sen. John McCain announced that he had discontinued medical treatment for an aggressive form of brain cancer; McCain died the following day.

In 2019, police in Aurora, Colorado, responding to a report of a suspicious person, used a chokehold to subdue Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black man; he went into cardiac arrest en route to the hospital and was later taken off life support and died.

Today’s Birthdays: Composer-musician Mason Williams is 88. R&B singer Marshall Thompson (The Chi-Lites) is 84. WWE co-founder Vince McMahon is 81. Author Paulo Coelho is 79. Actor Anne Archer is 79. Author Alexander McCall Smith is 78. Composer Jean-Michel Jarre is 78. Author Orson Scott Card is 75. Poet Linton Kwesi Johnson is 74. Actor-writer Stephen Fry is 69. Actor Steve Guttenberg is 68. Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. is 66. Actor Jared Harris is 65. Actor Marlee Matlin is 61. Basketball Hall of Famer Reggie Miller is 61. Film director Ava DuVernay is 54. Actor-comedian Dave Chappelle is 53. Actor James D’Arcy is 52. Actor Alex O’Loughlin is 50. Author John Green is 49. Actor Chad Michael Murray is 45. Actor Rupert Grint is 38. Basketball player Kelsey Plum is 32. Actor Griffin Gluck is 26.