Andrew didn’t touch his home or his business but for Paul Beers, the destructive storm was the single biggest event in his 30-year career.

Beers was in the window business.

Working with Texas Tech University scientists in the wake of Andrew, he helped develop the now famous “flying two-by-four’’ test for window openings that Miami-Dade County would adopt as part of the toughest hurricane codes in the country. The codes, which require that home windows and shutters withstand a shot from a board fired at 34 mph, helped create an entire new industry churning out now widely used hurricane-resistant impact windows.

The debate to iron out specific standards took several years, said Beers, owner of Glazing Consultants International in Palm Beach County.

“There was all kind of opposition to it. The home builders were against it because the cost of construction went up. The shutter industry was against it,’’ he said. “Everybody was against it except the general public.’’

Hurricane Andrew 20 years later

• The Intro
• The Captain
• The Emergency Manager
• In Country Walk
• At Turkey Point
• Stories of comfort
• Broward bound
• The Weatherman

• Maelstrom and Marriage
• The Poet
• A Prayer Answered
• The Scientists
• A life lesson
• The Window Maker
• Seeing The Sky