My thoughts on Ivans intensity (Quite long)

[Droop12]

Hey guys, Im new here. I was lurking for awhile until Ivan. I live in Gulf Breeze and rode out Ivan in Pensacola. I read through several post here were people are questioning his intensity at landfall. First, starting at 9pm the night of the landfall, transformers were exploding everywhere in Downtown P-cola where I stayed. According to gulf power, by 11pm ALL of P-cola was without power. That explains why there is a lack of any proof of sustained winds of 130mph. I took a nap from 11 til 12:30am thinking the storm would pass, because I was nervous, the building I was in was shaking. I wake up at 12:30am and the winds are ROARING...and its non-stop. The steel double doors of the building I was staying at got sucked open, and I had to shut it, and it looked like hell on earth outside. There were no lights, it just looked like a blizzard of rain and debris. Through-out the rest of the storm, the winds would go from roaring, to low howl, shrieking....stuff was flying and things smashing. It was very un-settling. By first light I was outside and the damage was amazing. I have NO DOUBT in my mind that wind damage was consistent with a Strong 3. Steel Billboards were bent over parallel to the ground, almost every sign was pulled out of the ground, large portions of roofs were everywhere, and tons and tons of mature pines and oaks were SNAPPED, not just tipped over. I found a street sign that was mangled on the roof of the building I stayed at. The winds peeled bricks off the roof also that we cant find. This was wind damage, Im not even going to get into the storm surge which was consistent of a 4/5 (If you dont believe me, ask the hundreds of people who's houses were swept clean off the foundations and obliterated.) Parts of I-10 were destroyed, a Cat 3 surge couldnt do that. My point is, Just because land stations didnt record strong winds doesnt mean thet didnt occur. I mean, its obvious, but so many of you only look at the obs. If you rode out Ivan many of you would have completly different thoughts. But I do agree, Ivan did weaken a bit, which was great news, but to little, to late.
By the way, this is a great sight and Im in no way dis-respecting anyone here, just my opinion on things. Have a good one yall.

[quazar]

Hi Droop,

I live in SW Pensacola and stayed during the storm. The wind/gust moved my 2000+ sq ft house off it's foundation. I agree with you about the surge. It had to be more than a cat 3 surge to have caused that kind of damage. I've seen slabs with no traces left of the previous house other than some plumbing fixtures sticking out of the concrete and the houses on pilings that the water was high enough to gut the second story. It's unbelievable how severe the damage was.

[Anonymous]

Well, the surge was that of a category 4 hurricane. The winds were that of a strong category 3.

[Droop12]

Hey quazar, Glad you made it ok. Over in Gulf Breeze down near Oriole Beach and Tiger Point the damage was horrible. Like you said, complete houses washed away. If your house was on stilts the surge didnt get to it, but the winds blew roofs off. My house is a half mile from the sound and the water literally stopped about 100 feet behind my house. Lucky for me cause my family doesnt have flood insurance cause supposedly everyone in my neighborhood wasnt in a floodzone. Its a mess, especially in the canals, there are entire roofs and parts of houses washed up or floating in them. Peoples belongings are everywhere also, tops of trees, powerlines, everywhere. Its gonna be awhile before its all cleaned up and we can get back to normal.

[Derek Ortt]

If a hurricane rapidly weakens in the final hours before landfall, the storm surge will not die down at all. This occurred with Opal, though the worst of the surge occurred east of Pensacola with that hurricane.

The NGOM is extremely wave and surge prone due to its topography

[quazar]

Droop, I haven't been over to Gulf Breeze but saw the pictures on the Pensacola News Journal's web site. Sad to see so much destruction. Looks just like areas around Perdido Bay and the Intercoastal. Grand Lagoon was devastated by surge and some residents who didn't evacuate were found dead washed up in the Big Lagoon Park. I'm across the street from Perdido Bay and the surge fortunately didn't reach my house....like your family, I'm not in a flood zone so I dont carry flood insurance. My house sits on concrete block piling and it was lifted/pushed from the foundation by the wind. My neighborhood looks like a big trash dump like so many others in Pensacola. Yes, it is going to take time before things are normal again. If that system in the gulf moves this way, it will be an even bigger mess.

[tdg32561]

Hi Droop I'm also from GB and yes the destruction is terrible. Did you know that some unexploded ordinances and hazardous waste washed up on shore on deerpoint dr? They did have that sealed off for awhile. It was from NAS.
Also about the wind speed, Bob Solarski said most of the measuring devices for the wind speed at some point or another broke or malfunctioned.
I've been down soundview in Midway but have yet gone down to Bay st in oriole beach. The other night a fox news reporter from mobile was there and reports were 16ft of water on bay street. I knew alot of people whose houses are gone or gutted. I did leave the whole area and was 4 hours away and we had a level 1 in the city I stayed in. I have friends on the beach and they lost their condo, the beach is pretty flat and it wouldn't take much of the oncoming storm to wash over in places again. Well gotta go to work.