Ivan Report

I just got a cellphone call from Mrs Jane down in Florida. They evacuated from their home on the bay in Panama City and went east to our hunting camp in the Appalachicola National Forrest. We don't know how their house faired but they are ok with only limbs down at our hunting camp. The power is out, phones are out, and the roads back to Panama City are impassible. There were 12 tornadoes that touched down around them and one was very close but it didn't touch down and went over everything. Back when Hurricaine Juan & Kate hit back in the 80's, the power was out at our hunting camp for over 2 weeks so it will be awhile before they get back power. Hopefully they'll be able to go home soon. Huge trees are blocking the roads back to Panama (along with power lines) and it will be quite some time before they will be able to get back. But the good news is they are ok and being from the Panhandle, they're used to stuff like this. I remember being in Elouise in 75, we walked out of the house when the eye came over. Birds were flying around and the sky was beautiful. Twenty minutes later, it all broke loose again. Then there was Frederick in 79, that one at least hit Mobile and we didn't get the full effects of that one. After Opal tore them a new one in the late 90's, they've been a little gun shy ever since. My mother told me the story of Camille in 69. I was a little baby and she was trying to get away from the storm by going east to Graceville. She was the last person they let across the Pensacola Bay Bridge on I-10. The waves were crashing over the bridge. That is the same bridge that collapsed last night.
I have many relatives that live in Pensacola that rode out the storm that we haven't heard from yet. Thank God there haven't been any more fatalities.

Bow, glad to hear your family is doing well after the storm! Hopefully all is well on the home front as well and that all your other relatives are safe and sound.

This Ivan is turning out to be one heck of a storm and now there's even another one behind it. I don't recall ever having so many hurricanes so close together.

Hope all Is as well as can be with Mrs Jane

My wife just saw on TV a report of 9' of water on the roads in the Gulf Shores/Orange Beach area, where my daughter has a beach house

My wife has been glued to the TV this morn as we have a daughter and her family in Milton Fla., near Pensacola, where they rode it out.

It's a rough one for sure

leo

It sure is rough here in central Alabama now!

Still have power for now.

Matt,

I just got off the phone with the operator at Bayside Marina. He says the water got up to 18" inside the store.

That's not good but it is better than it could have been.

The floor of the store is 4 1/2' above the high tide line.

That may help Miss Jane undestand where her water level rose to if she is familar with Bayside. i don't think she lives too far from there?

Wife saw a bridge get washed out on TV a trucker was on it she said... very worried for that driver Nothing has been reported about it since....

I believe that was I-10.

I heard it was washed out between Escambia and Santa Rosa Coutnies!

Jeff, that puts the bay about even with my mother's house. It's about 4 or 5 feet above high tide point. I just saw some of the damage from the tornadoes in Blountstown close to where they were staying. It was awful. Everything was destroyed. They were fortunate.

All is well with us on the bay in Panama City! We are back home, safe and sound. We have power and a telephone and very little damage. The water came within about 50 feet of our deck and much of the vegetation is dead from the salt water. Our dock is very tilted and my pontoon boat is on dry land about 20 feet from the water, but unharmed! We'll find a way to get it back when the tide comes back in.
My relatives in Pensacola weren't so lucky. They have no water and no power and all have some damage to their homes. My aunt waited in line for two hours for gas this morning and she told me that a grocery store had re-opened near her. Ice and bottled water is available but the lines are very long! One cousin, just east of Gulf Breeze, lost his house from 30 foot waves and his Nextel business in town was demolished. No one was hurt though!
We spent a terrible night with a battery operated radio telling us just how close the tornadoes were. Thank Goodness, none touched down near us.
What a price we pay for living in paradise!

If you are talking about the semi on I-10 bridge, they found the truck driver in his cab, deceased.

Miss Jane,

Glad to hear y'all made it through OK!