I hope for you guys that Jeanne is going to leave you alone !
Folks, it looks bad for Pensacola. Ivan threw a hard right cross right into P-Cola. No power. No phones. I haven't been able to reach my Mother. For a while, the local paper ran a forum, kinda like F-Chat, where people from around the world posted snippets of real news that they had gotten via cell phones. (The real reason I hate Dan Rather is that he started all this inane reporter in the wind BS when he was a cub reporter here in Houston.) But the board must have overloaded because the paper shut it down. Apparently, in addition to high water, wind and heavy rains, there were numerous tornados. Let's just hope that it is limited to property damage. Dale ps the local paper website is: www.pensacolanewsjournal.com
Judging from the aerial photos by Fox, Pensacola (Santa Rosa Isl) is in horrible shape. I have reports that both bridges are out from Navarre and Gulf Breeze, and that an elevated section of I-10 about 5 miles east of Pensacola is completely gone. The road is barely floating on top of the water, and then some spurts just vanished. At this point, a loss of power is the least of our concerns. Anyone have further news?
You are correct..I've seen a pic of the bridges today, looks like a storm surge was enough to shift the foundation pilings and it just fell in! One had a semi truck dangling over the end......
Here's a link to helicopter footage up and down the Gulf Shores - Pensacola coastline. http://www.wwltv.com/cgi-bin/bi/video/wmPlayer.pl?title=www.wwltv.com/091604aerials.wmv&props=noad
This just posted on the NYT web site. It's surreal & sickening to see this. Looks like a Cal Spyder. http://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/17/national/17storm.html?hp
well, here's good news. we evacuated the other day but today got a report from neighbors who stayed, they have an underground shelter, that the house and cars are all fine. too bad i can't say that about the restaurant where i work. a tornado smashed it real good, then worked it's way up thomas dr. missing my neighborhood by three blocks. the best news is that the power was back on last night. i was worried about a half gallon of ice cream i had in the freezer, whew i'd hate to have lost that.
Martin let's see if this works: Hurricane Ivan's Fury Kills 23 Along the Middle Gulf Coast By FELICITY BARRINGER and ANDREW C. REVKIN Published: September 17, 2004 OBILE, Ala., Sept. 16 - Ending its ominous, slow waltz through the Caribbean and the Gulf of Mexico, Hurricane Ivan thrashed the Gulf Coast from midnight to sunrise Thursday. Along the way, it carved a path of destruction through the Southeast with winds reaching 130 miles an hour and even more powerful tornadoes, killing at least 23 people, inundating homes and cutting off highways, including Interstate 10 in Mobile and Pensacola. The eye made landfall over the small Alabama city of Gulf Shores abut 2:30 a.m., and the hurricane left some of the worst damage in Pensacola and the rest of the Florida Panhandle, which were hit by the storm's powerful northeast quadrant. Tornadoes produced by the hurricane killed four people in Blountstown, Fla., northeast of Panama City. In Bay County, a 77-year-old woman was found dead 75 yards from her bayfront home in a pile of debris and an 84-year-old man was found dead of head injuries after a tornado sliced the roof off the building he was visiting to check on his daughter's business. Hurricane Ivan was the third hurricane in a month to scar Florida's landscape and kill its residents. Pensacola joined the Florida cities West Palm Beach and Punta Gorda as synonymous with a litany of hardship including wrecked homes, scrambled marinas and uprooted trees. Gov. Jeb Bush of Florida called the damage "heartbreaking," adding, "The larger Pensacola area appears to have experienced the brunt of the storm." The storm surge that had pumped waves to 55-foot heights in the Gulf of Mexico sent floodwaters into communities south and east of Mobile. In southern Louisiana, the swampy parish of St. Bernard, on the toe of the boot-shaped state, was partly flooded. Across the Gulf Coast, as many as five million people were without power as the winds slowly subsided. In Gulf Shores, on the eastern side of Mobile Bay, water lapped through washed-out shops and homes, branches were ripped from sodden tree trunks, and wild animals ran free from the local zoo. Water swamped the Down Under dive shop, lapping above the level of the plywood boards hammered into place to protect the building. White-capped waves crested in the parking lot of Souvenir City. One resident, Steve Horvat, joked that he now had beachfront property. "The problem is some people say it looks like a houseboat," he said. President Bush declared a state of emergency Thursday in Alabama, Mississippi and Louisiana and was expected to add Florida to the group once the requisite paperwork was filed. Hurricane Ivan killed 70 people in the Caribbean, where it reached Category 5 strength, the most intense. As it neared the coast, approaching directly from the south, the storm took an eastward jog, delivering a ferocious blow to Alabama and Florida but only grazing the Mississippi shore, whose high-rise casinos had closed in expectation of danger. The Grand Casino in Biloxi left behind a flashing sign reading, "All bets off till Ivan folds." After New Orleans residents evacuated en masse and the city imposed an uncharacteristic (and lightly enforced) 2 p.m. curfew on Wednesday, the storm did little more than whip up waves over the concrete banks of Lake Pontchartrain's south shore, to the awe and delight of nearby residents who frolicked in the overflow. After the eye reached land as a Category 3 storm and pivoting to the northeast, the storm quickly lost much of its power but pushed bands of drenching rainstorms into Georgia and the Carolinas, knocking out power as far away as the suburbs of Atlanta. The National Weather Service issued a flood watch for as far away as North Carolina, which suffered heavy flooding last week from the remnants of Hurricane Frances. The Carolinas and Georgia could be in for more trouble next week from Tropical Storm Jeanne, which reached the Dominican Republic Thursday afternoon. The signs of Hurricane Ivan's passage northward along Interstate 65 toward Montgomery, Ala., were the absence, in places, of the usual green-and-white exit markers, which had been punched over and lay nearly invisible in the wet grass.
Its always a good time to think about that but Hurricanes have appartnely not much to do with that. They come in cycles. The 60s were very active and the last years have been very little. Now we are entering a new active cycle. Just the way it is. No matter what we should be thinking and better DOING something about global warming. Anyway, gotta run, have to drive my Hummer to the construction site to meet the GC.
All the cellphone towers are down and obviously power is out an will continue to be out for weeks. I see that Dale has already posted the local paper's website so I won't do that, but it's enough to bring one to tears. I still haven't been able to reach my dad yet, but we've heard through a 3rd party that he's ok. Their house is very close to the water, but not directly on the beach. There were a couple of deaths in the neighborhood right next to them though. It may be the worst hurricane ever to hit the panhandle. Certainly worse than Camille back in '68 and Opal - mostly because of the greater infrastructure in the area now and the bigger population. Matt LaMott was in a shelter, but no area was spared. I've left him a cellphone message. If somehow he's able to get a call in to me, I'll pass the word to all of you. Mark
As I tried to tell WILLIAM H, no one that tries to 'ride thru' one of these ever does it again, IMO. For a harrowing read sometime check out stories of the 1900 Galveston storm.......... Support your local Red Cross, they are always one of the first into these scenes. Glad to hear your folks are OK. That Dome house story is pretty amazing. Conventional construction just doesn't cut it at 160MPH. West Galveston is now also covered with a lot of high dollar development that will be driftwood....someday. Surf swell went to 15' here and got pretty ridable yeaterday. A wave of 50' was reported on a NOAA bouy during the storm center. Put that on top of a 20' high storm tide, and imagine your neighborhood!
It is frightening. The images trickel in and you can only be amazed of natures destruction. Hope all are okay.
As for the Global Warming: guys there is horrific consequences of global warming and our Country does quite its number to "help" the warming trend. This has to stop. Better to pin it to the right desasters as to pinpoint it to those that are not really made through the Global Warming and Greenhouse Gases. You do not want to dilute from the message. I wish someone in power would wake up and do something despite our industry crying. CATs were supposed to be impossible to implement. They were supposed to destroy engines. Hm...here we are.
Folks, the situation in Pensacola is very, very bad. It is not getting much attention on the national news because, well, let's face it, the Redneck Riviera probably comes in the bottom 10% of media markets so WGAS. It looks like I'll be headed over there on Monday. If any of you want me to check something out while I'm there, just holler. Dale
Great to hear that Matt was able to get to a shelter before the worst came. My thoughts are with him and his family. Please post if you get in touch with him!
I do not think that car is a real Ferrari. There was a picture in the Austin American Statesman today. The picture was a rear shot. First, the car has MGB tail lights.Secondly,the trunk lid does not come down in the rear as far as most Californias or Series II Cabriolets. It also has cheap looking license plate lights. The rear bumper does look authentic. I bet it is a California Replica. Hopefully, not using a Ferrari engine and Chassis! Still a Bummer!
You would hope that a real Cal Spider would be in a secure facility. It looks like that one was parked in the open - either that or the buidling was not very sturdy. Scottie
Folks, I'm headed to P-Cola tomorrow with a generator, water, gas, plastic, and some good scotch. If you want me to check anything out for you while I'm there, please PM or post. Dale
Reached my Dad and he's fine and the house is going to be ok for the most part. Not too much structural damage and didn't have any water come in either. Luck of the draw. Haven't been able to reach Matt yet, but I'm sure that's just because the cell towers are down etc. I'm sure he'll post as soon as he can. The city is devastated as you all know and it'll be a long time before things there will ever seem "normal" again. There but for the grace of God....
