Questions about Hurricanes for Long Time SoWal Residents

Was it Ivan or Dennis that Kurt did not evacuate and almost everyone else did? He took pictures along our beaches to let us know how our properties withstood the storm. He even stayed on the message board until he did lose power. I remember the joy of hearing my computer at work when he was able to send messages again! Thank you again for that Kurt!

I grew up in Panama City and have lived in Miami for 20 years. The storm itself is usually not the biggest problem (if you live at an elevation of 15 feet or more), it's the aftermath of no electricity, no water, no gas. Most people die after the storm.

Practical pointers:

You do not need to buy bottled water. Either fill cleaned empty milk jugs or get 5-gallon containers and fill them from the tap.

Freeze several one-gallon containers of water. Bags melt rapidly and a frozen gallon of water will last for several days if you avoid opening your refrigerator frequently.

Fill garbage cans with water for flushing the toilet and bathing. If you have a swimming pool, even better. It will quickly turn pea green but you can still flush a toilet with it.

Be sure to have an extra tank of propane if you cook with electricity. The first couple of days are great. You'll be eating those now thawing steaks and ice cream.

Pool your resources with your neighbors. Check on your older neighbors who live alone. They often don't like to ask for help.

Always keep your car's tank at least half full. It's a drag to wait in long lines at the gas station only to have them run out. Don't drive unless it's absolutely necessary. No sightseeing except by foot.

Solar powered battery chargers and wind-up radio. I have a tiny television that runs on AA batteries and it's nice to be able to watch during the height of the storm.

Be careful with chain saws and clean up. People get injured when they're tired and hot. I worked in a Miami Beach ER after Hurricane Andrew. It was swamped with diabetics, respiratory patients, the elderly and people injured because they weren't wearing gloves, full shoes and eye protection. It was also swamped because it was the only one of four hospitals on the beach with running water.

Peanut butter.

:funn:
I can just picture your Dad with videocam whopper... boy, they were fairly large way back when...

...the best is when you watch it and he cusses when he drops it.

I think the most logical thing that could have happened to the DA area would have been a tornado. The damage there was far worse than the surrounding areas.

I don't remember which areas got hit with tornados, but Opal was a huge storm and packed a huge water surge. Around 20 feet of water. In Destin it slammed into the condos on Holiday Isle destroying the bottom two floors of high rises, demolishing homes. The Destin Harbor was devastated. All the docks were completely gone. Boats anchored in the Harbor had broken loose and sliced other boats in half, several buildings collasped, (Including the Boathouse).

Scenic Hwy 98 in Miramar Beach was seriously undermined and if I am not mistaken, there were some problems with 30-A as well.

The newspapers I saved have plenty of photos showing collasped houses, etc in and around South Walton.

^ yep, I remember some guy got arrested for trying to pass off all the dollars from the Boathouse. Serves him right! And I remember seeing all the boats heading up the intercoastal when we were evacuating. The fishing fleet took a hard hit with Opal. I also remember Dr. Hope from the NHC saying that Opal was a nightmare to them because it became so unpredictable.

^ yep, I remember some guy got arrested for trying to pass off all the dollars from the Boathouse. Serves him right! And I remember seeing all the boats heading up the intercoastal when we were evacuating. The fishing fleet took a hard hit with Opal. I also remember Dr. Hope from the NHC saying that Opal was a nightmare to them because it became so unpredictable.

Oh, that's funny! I didn't hear about that! I do remember everyone going down to the harbor and raising the collasped roof at the Boathouse, putting in new studs to hold it up before the inspectors got there. They wouldn't have been able to rebuild if the inspectors graded it 50% or more lost!... Well... it's still there....

Oh, that's funny! I didn't hear about that! I do remember everyone going down to the harbor and raising the collasped roof at the Boathouse, putting in new studs to hold it up before the inspectors got there. They wouldn't have been able to rebuild if the inspectors graded it 50% or more lost!... Well... it's still there....

like that inspector didnt realize all that work was just a LITTLE bit newer than the rest, right? Good story, good folks!

I found a few maps of our hurricane history that are kinda scary when you look at them. The first is of the 04 season and the second is of the "Parade of Storms" leading up to Opal.
SoWal Beaches Forum - View Single Post - Tropical Deppression 4

I found a few maps of our hurricane history that are kinda scary when you look at them. The first is of the 04 season and the second is of the "Parade of Storms" leading up to Opal.
http://www.sowal.com/bb/showpost.php?p=277909&postcount=58

We had hurricane Erin during the summer, followed by Opal at the first of October. Can't remember if other tropical systems affected us. We were all caught off guard with Opal. We went to bed thinking it was going past us to NO, and woke up throwing belongings into cars for evacuation.

MUCH better information systems today! phew!

Anybody remember the hurricane we survived 3 times? What was it called?

yeah they are not so bad, i have stayed in our house through two tropical storms, just lots of wind and rain. heck, fff and i think it's a great time to go out and look at property, you will know what property floods! just ask bobby j!

It is the best time to look at property. We have discovered if it looks like a big storm we are out here. Have not really figured out the reason to stay. A true disaster to me is no power in my home with wife, son and 2 teenage daughters! My neighbor stays and calls me when the power is back. One year, I went to Orlando and surfed over at Sebastian Inlet, played at Disney World and finally flew to Costa Rica. It was my best Hurricane ever. When we returned we went back to work and never missed a beat!

Anybody remember the hurricane we survived 3 times? What was it called?

I believe that would have been "ELENA". zigzagged 50 miles offshore then finally crossed the state and went on to hit New York. Labor Day weekend if I am not mistaken, sometime late 80's.
It was in 85.

Yea, that was it, there were t shirts that proclaimed, "I survived Hurricane Elena 3 times!" I remember the last time they went around with a loud speaker to evacuate, I just rolled over and went back to sleep! By then, after 3 calls, I'd had enough. If I died, I died!

I have a picture of about 15 of us sitting in the middle of Hwy 98 (Old 98 now) in front of the Beachcomber bar laughing about sitting there, drinks in hand, not a car in sight, on Labor Day weekend.
just remembered something else, the sheriffs dept. told us they would issue us "body tags" if we refused to leave and we all hooked these plastic tags with our names to our big toe. LOL

I have lived here in Sowal since 1986 and before that, in Fort Walton since 1971. I have never had any damage to any of mine or my parent's homes. I think there is some danger of a branch or someones lawn chair breaking a window but I've never had that happen. During Opal I had every leaf on every tree blown off my yard in old Seagrove but no damage to my house/windows.

Basically, I believe most damage comes from water in low lying areas and tornadoes within the storms. If it is a Cat 1 through 3 the winds are not bad enough to damage your home unless you have loose shingles, poor construction, live in a trailer or something like that. If it is a Cat 4 or 5 your roof will probably blow off and any amount of plywood on the windows is going to make no difference at all. I think people spend far too much time, money and energy on running around "boarding up the house". I makes everyone feel better but broken windows are rarer than most think. I am not advocating anyone do what I have, this is just my personal experience. At any time during even a Cat 1 storm a tornado can take your roof off boarding up or not.

Now, having said that, the above opinion reflects my feeling about stuff, houses and the things that have to do with stuff. I have another opinion about life and limb altogether. I, personally would NEVER stay in any house during any storm above a Cat 1; I have done it and it is too stressful for me. While I am willing to risk a broken window or two, I believe the chances of tornadoes within hurricanes is far to dangerous to roll the dice on. The past few storms I have stayed in large, multi-story concrete buildings. I don't normally evacuate as long as I can stay in a big concrete building; non of which I have ever seen blow over in a storm unless the Gulf was pounding on it like on Pensacola beach.

A lot of the tornado's happen north of here after the storm meets the resistance of the land. If you do evacuate go in the opposite direction of the predicted track IE: If it is going north toward Atlanta, go to Houston or Orlando/Jacksonville way. We have been lucky no direct hits have come to Sowal as far as I know. Time will tell this year.

I believe that would have been "ELENA". zigzagged 50 miles offshore then finally crossed the state and went on to hit New York. Labor Day weekend if I am not mistaken, sometime late 80's.
It was in 85.

Elena did the crazy zig-zag, but she ended up coming ashore in Louisiana;I remember that day well, we rode it out but it wasn't too bad. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Elena
I associate it with Ivan Lendl (sp?) winning the US Open. I think Juan hit us soon after and it caused major flooding.

Oh - I so remember this one - we were at Walt Disney World for my first and only time with our son and the park was empty because of the the crazy pattern Elena was following - We literally ran from ride to ride with no wait - my son loved it. When we got to the park those days we were told that we might have to evacuate at anytime and there would be no refunds. But we barely got more than a shower or two. My son who is now 30 still talks about how we had the park almost to ourselves.

The past few storms I have stayed in large, multi-story concrete buildings. I don't normally evacuate as long as I can stay in a big concrete building;

Where do you find one of these south of the bay so you can return to your property without waiting on the 331 bridge to reopen?

Where do you find one of these south of the bay so you can return to your property without waiting on the 331 bridge to reopen?

Downtown Seaside, Rosemary, Villages of South Walton. Any of the new large 4-story mixed-use or condo developments like Sanctuary, Redfish Village, etc.

Thx to all who've responded. I learned a great deal and have a pretty good idea of what I will be doing and when I will be doing it the next time we are in harm's way...

Certainly all your practical advice and the experiences you've shared is of immense value to all who've read this thread. The unexpected bonus, of course, was hearing the touching stories of selflessness and community...

I'm blown away (no pun intended )!
I am proud to have such incredible neighbors!

Cheers, geo

Here's a few more for you...

If you evacuate for the hurricane, and the hurricane hits the area enough to take all the leaves off the trees, bring back a ton of large plastic garbage bags. You're going to have a lot of clean up to do and the stores will be out of them around here. If you life on the bay, you'll have even more debris to clean up.

Large plastic tarps are sometimes needed (again depend how hard hit you are) for covering roofs. They run out quickly so buy some while out of town during the evacuation.

bring back a ton of large plastic garbage bags.

This is also a good idea if you are staying. I use them to put everything in the fridge into when icing it down in coolers. It keeps labels from coming off all my condiments etc. and getting the ice all icky. They make good impromptu luggage too!

Buy "contractor" bags instead of typical garbage bags for your packing/cleanup needs. They are larger and made of a much stronger plastic that you will be glad for if you are trying to contain a mess, keep things dry, or pack in.

have some magic markers and tape on hand also, for labeling what's in those bags.