??? So,,,, what caused the floods if not the storm surge brought about by the hurricane?
Questions about Hurricanes for Long Time SoWal Residents
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??? So,,,, what caused the floods if not the storm surge brought about by the hurricane?
As for Pcola Beach - it was devestated by Ivan and Dennis. It is located on Santa Rosa Island, a barrier island which is basically a sand bar - very low. They had miles and miles of beautiful tall dunes that were washed into the sound by Ivan, leaving the area completely flat.
We came over the 331 bridge the day (evening) after Ivan and there was a sailboat on the left side of the road before you start over the bridge southbound but it was not blocked. We had no power at our house in Seagrove on 30-A that evening when we rolled in, however One Seagrove Place was lit up like a Christmas tree and we spent the night in one of our condo's there. Talk about eerie, the guard, Sweetie, FFF and I were about the only ones in that big ole high rise. The following morning we went to our house in Seagrove started checking it out and the power came on, so we had power about two days later. I will post pics later, they are not on this computer.One thing that stands out in my mind is that next day we passed Criolla's and there was a big sign out there for free food that evening. It made me well up and start crying. The fellowship we have in SoWal is incredible.
I remember I found SoWal after Dennis and some guy named Smiling JOe kept going out and checking on people's houses/property for them and giving them reports.
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I hear you, but what happens if the three roads coming into SoWal are blocked or washed away? If we get directly hit by a major storm, we should expect there to be some major problems.
Many of us who are now locals, have not been here long enough to report on the storms which actually hit Walton County. I believe the last direct hit was Opal, back in 1995, which reportedly hit in Dune Allen. If you want to read about the mother of storms, I believe it was back in 1929, or sometime around then, and it was bad. I've heard some stories about that storm which sound a bit exaggerated, but who knows?
While the storms of 2004 and 2005 did major damage to the dunes and beach, and many homes built directly on top of the dunes, they didn't really affect most properties, nor did they actually hit directly in SoWal. Had homes not been built directly on the dunes, it is safe to say that the damage would have been nominal, and people wouldn't have spent millions of dollars for seawalls and sand, nor would we be paying for beach nourishment.
While the storms of 2004 and 2005 did major damage to the dunes and beach, and many homes built directly on top of the dunes, they didn't really affect most properties, nor did they actually hit directly in SoWal. Had homes not been built directly on the dunes, it is safe to say that the damage would have been nominal, and people wouldn't have spent millions of dollars for seawalls and sand, nor would we be paying for beach nourishment.
SJ,
I learned a lot from Ivan, Dennis and even Rita. We were not in the direct path, yet close enough that we had significant beach errosion, resulting in several damaged homes. The last Cat 3 that hit us directly(my review of records show around BMB +/-) was Eloise in 1975.
Just think of the damage to SoWal if a Cat 3 hits directly or around Old 98? I'm afraid that many, many of our beautiful homes on the beach would no longer be on the beach, but part of it!
It has happened a couple of times in the past 100 years and it will again.....someday....Mother Nature always wins..:shock:
I learned a lot from Ivan, Dennis and even Rita. We were not in the direct path, yet close enough that we had significant beach errosion, resulting in several damaged homes. The last Cat 3 that hit us directly(my review of records show around BMB +/-) was Eloise in 1975.
Just think of the damage to SoWal if a Cat 3 hits directly or around Old 98? I'm afraid that many, many of our beautiful homes on the beach would no longer be on the beach, but part of it!
It has happened a couple of times in the past 100 years and it will again.....someday....Mother Nature always wins..:shock:
Actually, Opal came ashore near Navarre, but that put Destin and SoWal on the strong side.
Regardless, some of the best advice any long time local ever gave me was -"When there is even a small chance of a storm effecting our area, fill up the car with gas and hit the ATM for cash."
That turned out to be great advice as both gas and cash go fast when a storm approaches and people are thinking about evacuating.
As many have pointed out, the storm surge component of hurricanes is typically the biggest impact to an area unless the size of the storm is in the 4-5 range as most new building codes are based on Miami-Dade and Hurricane Andrew. The tornadoes that are spawned from the hurricane are a different story however.
Keep in mind, that the areas NORTH of Hwy 98 are typically lower than the areas closer to the beach as the land actually slopes downhill from the dune to the bay. The beachfront areas most at risk will be the areas around Coastal Dune Lakes. On the bay side, one area comes immediately to mind, Driftwood point, north of the hospital. The road out of there was flooded with Ivan and I don't know about Dennis.
Keep in mind, that the areas NORTH of Hwy 98 are typically lower than the areas closer to the beach as the land actually slopes downhill from the dune to the bay. The beachfront areas most at risk will be the areas around Coastal Dune Lakes. On the bay side, one area comes immediately to mind, Driftwood point, north of the hospital. The road out of there was flooded with Ivan and I don't know about Dennis.
The south side of Scenic 98 in Miramar Beach got hit very, very hard in spots during Ivan. If you know where to look, there are buildings there that are still uninhabitable and basically untouched since the storm.