A Personal Account Of One Disaster

They tell me that Ivan was the second strongest storm to make landfall in the US, right after the 1918 storm that landed in Galvaston, Texas. These same people tell me that it was the second most devastating storm after Camile back in '69. They say some strange things about this particular storm, some true and some wild fantasy. I don't know about any of that, but it was definately a doozy.

Tracking

I began tracking this storm when it was a wee little Tropical Depression forming in the eastern Atlantic. As it continues to head almost due west despite the predictions of the weather people¹ I was convinced that it would continue west into Texas, or at the worst turn north and destroy New Orleans. I never thought it would actually affect me, especially after the three previous storms to miss me completely². I totally dismissed this storm all the way up to the day it actually made landfall, and even then I only thought it would be a little bid of wind and some rain here in Pensacola. Oops.

The night it actually hit I was online tracking it with two different sites³ as well as watching several local news stations for updates. The winds were really starting to pick up outside of my apartment, but I was watching the storm with all the available resources and knew that the worst of it would miss me. It was schedules for a 2am landfall in Gulf Shores as a Catagory 4 storm, which meant to me that the NE Eyewall would miss me by about twenty miles, or just far enough away that I would only see a Cat. 3 or weaker as far as winds and rain go. Nothing to really worry about. Of course, nobody can predict what a storm of that magnitude will do.

Landfall

At around 1am the storm finally knocked out power for good in my apartment after three hours of flickering on and off sporadically. From what I've been able to peice together from talking to my neighbors ⁴ right before landfall Ivan had strengthened back to a Catagory 5 storm and it moved east by about twenty miles to hit Orange Beach directly. That put Pensacola right in the path of the NE Eyewall. That's about the time the storm really became fun.

In my apartment there are two couches. One of which is against an inside wall at a 90 degree angle to the outside wall. The other, the couch I sit on, is directly against the outside wall under the only window in the front part of my apartment. As the winds grew stronger and stronger, aproaching their apex of incredible power , I begain to wonder if that window I sat underneath was going to explode.

On a side note, it's quite exhilerating to believe that the next wind gust could shatter the window just behind your head sending thousands of tiny glass fragments into the scalp just above your neck. Of course it never happened, but the adrenaline rush was quite nice.

Back to the couches.

As I sat on my couch with a lit candle showing me not much more than shadows flickering against my darkened moniter, I begin to wonder if I made the right decision to stay through the storm. Listening to the wind thrashing the trees, pounding the door to my apartment, actually watching the windows bend and flex far more than I had thought glass capable of. I was beginning to think I had made a huge mistake.

The winds were the worst just a few hours after the power went out and it would last through the night. I had retreated to my bedroom for comfort and listened to the wind howl and the tree branches hit the window for the duration of the storm. At one point the tree right outside my bedroom split apart and the top half hit the building, making the whole thing shake like it was in an earthquake. That was when I decided it would be a good idea to sleep on the floor on the far side of my bed.

The Days Of Dark

The morning after the storm was brutal. The temperature was rising steadily, the humidity was so thick you could drink it. Walking out of my apartment onto the balcony I saw the tree that had snapped in the night resting against the railing of my second floor apartment. There were roof shingles everywhere and people milling about taking in the devastation just to make it real. The dazed look on everybody's face just went to show me how bad the storm really was.

The parking lot of my complex was in ruins. Trees were down everywhere, one had fallen on a car that belonged to one of my neighbors. My downstairs neighbor told me stories of how my truck decided it wanted to fly. Appearantly there were a few times the winds of the storm picked my truck completely off of the ground. It didn't go anywhere, but it was airborne for a few breif moments. I drive a '93 Chevy C1500 Stepside regular cab, that's about 2 1/2 tons of truck. I can't even imagine winds that can just pick that thing off of the ground.

Since there was a cerfew for all of Escambia County until the next morning so that emergancy crews could begin to repair the damage, I really had nothing to do except get to know my neighbors. Turns out that they are rather nice people. Two are volunteer firefighters, one is a pretty mean chess player, one couple are diehard republicans one of whom is vegitarian. Kinda strange to meet a vegitarian republican.

From rumors I heard, there are 140 feeder lines powering P-cola, and 137 of them had been blown down in the storm. Knowing that it could be upwards of a month before power returned to my complex the marathon cookout began. Pretty much everybody had a freezer full of meat that was going to go bad if not cooked within a few days. My contribution was about twenty pounds of chicken. It actually took me a few days to find someone with a grill that would be willing to allow me the use of, but when that happened I fed about eight people for two days with all that chicken.

Even without electricity, several stores were desperately trying to open up for business. Most notable among those is the local liquor store. Almost as soon as the cerfew was lifted for the daylight hours they were open for all of use that needed a way to kill time, or to escape the pure hell of losing everything but the clothes on their backs for a night. I went with a lemonade recipe I knew from back in my bartending days. I'm not entirely certain of what I did or said that night, a fifth (750ml) of vodka has that effect, but one thing I did know is that I wouldn't be drinking again for quite a while. At least I wouldn't be drinking hard liquor for a while, I'm just not ready to forswear beer yet.

I turned out to be one of the lucky ones. I only went without power for five days when there are some who have gone six weeks in the dark and were still waiting. Just imagine it for a minute. No electricity for five days. No light, no hot water, no air conditioning in the late summer, trying to prepare food (mostly sandwiches) without being able to properly clean anything. My apartment was in ruins. Interesting that the 'storm of the century' left me completly unharmed and the lack of electricity for five days leaves my home looking for all the world like a disaster area.

Surveying The Destruction

The first day that the cerfew was lifted I decided to just ride around town looking at the damage. I had listened to the storm as it happened, I had seen what it had done to my complex, and I had heard stories from others about what was done, but none of it really prepared me for what I was about to see.

Most of the roads were totally impassable because of trees and houses covering the roadway, and those that weren't could only be traversed with great care. Making my way down the road I used to drive to work everyday I saw almost every power line on the ground and most of the standing buildings were missing about half of their roof. As I got to the first bridge I usually drive over was blockaded by police and national guardsmen turning everybody around. Appearantly the main road on the islands just wasn't there anymore. Parts of it had been washed away and what wasn't was covered by the beach which had been moved 100 yards back.

Since I couldn't get to my workplace to see if I still had a job to return to I turned down one of the waterside roads that the ritzy neighborhoods reside on. Used to reside on as I shortly saw. Here the damage was at it's worst with entire blocks reduced to concrete slabs and downed trees. After about half a mile I was unable to proceed any further because of the damage done to the road so I made my way home.

Most of Pensacola was like that.

When I was able to return to work a month later I was finally able to see what the storm had done to Orange Beach. About the only differece was the condos along the beach. They were a study in opposites. The back side of the buildings were untouched by the storm, while there just was no front side. The profile showed rebar jutting into thin air, dangling wires and living room floors that just ended abruptly. Half of the beach was on the wrong side of the road.

SurvIvan

Survive. That's one thing that I never would have been able to do without the help of several agencies. The National Guard and the Red Cross most of all.

The National Guard helped in two distinct ways. The first was keeping the peace during the worst part immediately after the storm. The second and most important was passing out food, bottled water and ice to everybody willing to wait in line for them. The food was in the form of MREs, or Meals Ready to Eat. Military rations, completely self contained with everything needed for good health and a heating element that just needed the addition of a small amount of water to work. I still have over three cases of the awful things. They get the job done, but just aren't enjoyable in the least. The water was Canadian.

The Red Cross helped out in two ways as well. The first was to drive around and pass out hot meals. A welcome relief from the MREs. The second was to provide financial assistance to people that needed it. I'm sure that the money was abused by most of the people that recieved it. I didn't recieve any money, but I did recieve vouchers for bedding, clothes and food. Three things I did need, if not for the reasons they were given.

There was one other form of assistance I recieved after the hurricane. Food stamps, or their electronic cousin the EBT card. Finally I had a way to cook my own food again! This was the most welcome relief of all. I no longer have to survive by consuming those god-awful rations. If for no other reason, the MRE will forever keep me from enlisting in the armed services. Those things have to be the worst part of surviving a Cat 5 hurricane.

Looking To The Future

It's been almost two months since Ivan made landfall and nothing will ever be the same. It was 25 years to the week since the last major storm to hit this area, and hopefully it will be another 25 before it happens again. They say it will take at least two years of rebuilding to recover from Ivan. I've also heard that the building codes are far stricter than they have ever been so that when the next big one hits there won't be so much devastation.

We can only hope.