Hurricane Ivan five years ago today

[Kurt]

where were you?

http://sowal.com/photos-091404.html

Hurricane Ivan, South Walton County on Scenic 30A
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Seaside, Florida​

Grayton Beach, Florida
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North Highway 393 in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
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Off Indian Woman Road in Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
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Dune Allen Beach, Florida
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Santa Rosa Beach, Florida
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Santa Rosa Beach Fort Panic Walkover
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Dune Allen Beach, Florida
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Dune Allen Beach, Florida
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WaterColor, Florida
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Seaside, Florida
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Rosemary Beach, Florida
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WaterSound Beach, Florida
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WaterSound Beach, Florida​

Seagrove Beach, Florida​

 

[lerxst]

Wow, what awful memories. I was here and rode the storm out in Santa Rosa Beach. Camp Creek outfall looked like a logjam, or was it Opal?

 

[Matt J]

We rode out this hurricane at a friends house and spent several hours huddled in a hallway with 6 adults, 2 children, and 3 cats while the tornadoes passed. The tornadoes took out some long time businesses and I think we were under a curfew for 24 hours. I remember South Walton was simply "Closed" for about a week.

This was also a very rare hurricane in that it made landfall passed over the continental US and emerged to come back and hit Texas.

 

[MaryAnne]

Incredible photos. Thanks for posting them.

 

[NotDeadYet]

Great photos, Kurt, thanks for posting.

where were you?

In the San Jose, Costa Rica airport. Freaking out, calling my son on his cell phone. He rode it out in Seagrove. I landed in Atlanta as the storm remnants passed that way. Two tries, first landing was aborted at the last minute due to a little twister over the airport. (Pilot to passengers: "Sorry about that folks, a little wind in the area so we'll just circle around and see if we can give it another try.") The airport was chaos. Had to rent a car to get the rest of the way home. My credit card was declined to rent the car, so I insisted the Hertz agent get BofA on the phone. "We thought your card had been stolen, someone has been using it in Costa Rica."
Home never looked so good, knee deep tree debris and no power, no problem. So happy to still have a house!

 

[ThirtyAGal]

What a horrible time. Husband and I had come for our first TWO week stay and had to leave after 3 days . We were crushed. We were desperate to find out about the area, and that is when I discovered SoWal for the first time. This board has come a long way since then! Thanks for the memories, Kurt.

 

[Kurt]

Wow, what awful memories. I was here and rode the storm out in Santa Rosa Beach. Camp Creek outfall looked like a logjam, or was it Opal?

Hurricane Dennis 10 months later. Photos - Beaches of South Walton - 07/12/05-B

WaterSound Beach at Camp Creek Lake - now you know why the beaches are relatively free of debris. There are several ?pockets? along the beaches that catch debris. After Hurricane Ivan, WaterSound also caught much debris behind the condos. This time it entered the lake.

 

[ChillPill]

These photos are incredibly shocking to me. I've gasped at every one of them. Thank you for posting them Kurt.

 

[Lake View Too]

Yes yes yes! Outstanding pictures!

 

[SGB]

Ivan was our first hurricane since living here. It was a scary time, full of having to quick decisions and not knowing what to do. It was our first and last time boarding up our houses with plywood. We bought hurricane shutters after that experience. We fled with our important paperwork and small valuables, kids, and new puppy, to Amelia Island.

When we came home, our backyard was filled with our neighbors' docks and a ton of vegetation. It took at least a solid week of working to get the debris cleared out. Luckily our sailboat was still floating where we had anchored it in the bayou. The sailboat next to ours wasn't so lucky.

For Dennis, we were prepared with hurricane shutters, but were across the country in CA (who knew a storm would come at the beginning of July?). Husband flew back to secure the houses. When the kids and I got on the plane a few days later, leaving CA and going to Jacksonville to meet up with hubby, the storm was headed straight for SRB. Needless to say, I was a nervous wreck. By the time we landed, we learned it had gone to the west of us and we didn't get the brunt of it. When we got home, the power had just been restored and we found our pool enclosure collapsed in the backyard (apparently it had been weakened by Ivan). Called Handyman Connection for the clean up operation. (They did a great job.)