What the local Gulf Coast newscasters are saying

[Guest]

West Mobile here, near Cottage Hill and Dawes Rd., we are going to be in the eastern eyewall. Everyone here is boarded up and hunkered down. Gonna be a miserable night, bringin back memories of Frederic and Camille. History is about to be rewritten for Mobile. Good luck to all and hope to be back online in a couple of weeks, maybe.

[Portastorm]

Stay safe and Godspeed, Frederic1979!

[yzerfan]

Channel 3 now has video of Navarre Beach fishing pier missing a middle section.

Curfew is in effect in Santa Rosa County for tonight.

[yzerfan]

Dauphin Island bridge under water, causeway also flooding according to CBS.

At my house, we're getting the first harder rain band.

[gratefulnole]

Thanks for the updates!!!!!!!!!!!

[yzerfan]

No change at my home.

CBS 5's reporter at Alabama port is still there despite worsening conditions.

I wish there was a net feed for WEAR's Pensacola Beach cam. It's still up and reportedly rated to 120 mph. Even has a little windshield wiper over the lens to wipe off those horizontal rain bands. They're showing the sound side again. Lots of damage to docks so far. Quietwater Beach ampitheater area looks threatened.

[fsusurfer]

Here is a lot of cam links..some are working some arn't

http://www.accessgulfcoast.com/communit ... efault.asp

[yzerfan]

Mobile is asking for medical volunteers, and giving a phone number (sorry didn't catch it) I'm assuming they want to be ready for any mass casualty situations after the winds recede.

[HurricaneQueen]

Please keep the updates coming. They are very much appreciated. Just wish we didn't have to have them.

[GuffMorlix]

and please keep them coming, folks. My parents are staying with friends in West Mobile, near Grelot Road. I'm very worried about them and the fate of my beloved hometown.

[yzerfan]

Channel 5 tried to send a reporter south of Foley. Cops aren't letting her south of the outlet mall any more. (she's there now taking shelter among those buildings) highway 59 is seeing flooding.

They also still had a reporter at a bar site in alabama port, but the parking lot was starting to flood, and water was going over the rip rap so I think the cops probably pulled her back.

Escambia county announced it was prioritizing emergency response. ie. don't call unless it's chest pains.

riviera power has pulled its crews from Baldwin county until winds go down.

I'd guess about 30,000 without power right now- not too bad considering. power crews from as far as Michigan are now in the area, but even with them it could take a couple weeks to get everyone back with lighting.

Conditions in my yard- light rain, moderate wind. The freaky thing is that you can hear the ocean/bay and the bay's a mile away.

Biloxi is having water system problems and is worried about sewage overflows.

[yzerfan]

Am thinking that if there was a Hurricane Ivan drinking game that involved the phrases "conditions are deteriorating" and "Hunker down" I would be thoroughly sloshed by now.

More curfews, this time in the Panama City area.

[yzerfan]

More big bend tornadoes forming- Apalachicola/Carabelle area.

[r_u_stuck2]

At my place, Lat 30.5286, Long 87.2885, we have had very close to 1 inch of rain today. Right now gusts are increasing but rain is still what I call light compared to Opal when it came through here. We had the eye of Opal right over us. Maybe the light rain will help prevent a lot of trees from blowing over. My hope anyway. Power outages in Pensacola are random but we have flickered 4 times during the day.

Good luck everyone.

[birdwomn]

Thanks so much for this info, you can't know how much it is appreciated!

[ALgulfcoast]

First post, from West Mobile area of Cottage Hill/Leroy Stevens area. The gusts are more frequent and stronger around 45 mph. Light rain. Lights have flickered once. Most of my neighbors have stayed and about 5 families have short wave radios to call for help if needed. We are boarded and taped up and just sitting here watching tv. The car is packed in case a hasty evacuation to a shelter (all are reportedly full) is necessary. Inflatable mattresses blown up to try to sleep in den or center of house. Neighbor just said FEMA announced that they were bringing in cadaver dogs for the aftermath! Will report as long as we have electricity!

[AlexiBlue]

My friend's sister-in-law is stuck near Biloxi. She's on call for the county morgue - horrible. She sent her kids North to Birmingham, but her husband refused to go without her and she can't leave or she'll lose her job. Besides, she knows someone has to do what she does, and she'd rather it be her.

And that job, man is she horrifyed right now. She has to be there to recover any bodies and identify them.

She's actually more afraid right now of the aftermath than the storm. She says she'll have to go out almost immediately and deal with downed powerlines and dangerous wreckage to search - plus the added horror of what she may find.

I've always been horrified for the people who have to suffer these things, but after hearing her talk about what she has to do as a "support" person - I respect so much more those who have to stay and be there to clean up the aftermath.

[yzerfan]

We've reached the point where it's dark, the live shots are getting too hard to light significantly, and they're running out of things to say between advisories. WEAR-Pensy just spent five minutes showing NASA file footage of Ivan from space.

[yzerfan]

Winds at pensacola beach to 48 mph, gusts to 64 mph.

[yzerfan]

Power problems reported at pensacola civic center shelter.