Well, we survived Ivan. We live in on-base housing aboard NAS Pensacola. Most of the buildings got flooded out except for housing, we're on the hill. So our house is technically fine though we're not allowed to live in it yet, they evacuated the base on the 13th, and gave us two hours to inspect the house and our stuff last tuesday. I find out in about 15 minutes wether we can move back in, some of the base houses were totally destroyed by tornado spawned by Ivan.

Where I work is a different story. The Navy will be spending several million to repair all the damage on this base. I don't want to think how much it will cost to repair NAS. It took three days of us working just to clean out all the stuff blown around in the office. We only got power back today at work, still none at home (if I could get there).

The company my wife works for has (yes, present tense) a resort on Pensacola beach, heavy damage inside and major external cosmetic damage. Amazingly the storm surge moved the concrete-in-ground swimming pool 90 feet to the right. They also suffered damage the the resort in Destin.

We took the dog and the 8 up to Birmingham, Alabama to escape Ivan. It worked too. Nothing a good sponge and elbow grease couldn't get off. I killed a few thousand love bugs driving up there. Everything was OK until this Saturday when an old biddy (70+) backed her Park Avenue into my 8 in a parking lot. Shopping around for a new back end. I might pay a bit extra for the MS back end, anyone have a black one?

I did pretty well in this, a few of my friends did not, two lost their houses completely, one friend's mom lost everything inside the house. She lived next a creek and a sewage lift station. They both flooded her house with four feet of water. I helped them move everything out, the guy from FEMA came around and said that it was a total loss. He'd cut her a check after the insurance guys came in. I have a good story about her nasty neighbor too, that evil *****!

Everything is starting to get back to normal. You'd think with traffic lights being out all over people would be driving more cautiously, worng. The idiot brigade is out in full-force. It is amazing driving around and seeing the damage. This is my first hurricane "in-person" it's different seeing pictures on the news of some place you've never been. But driving past where the McDonalds or shell station used to be is a trip. I have pics but the best pic site I've heard about (only just got internet back at work) is on http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/ .

Hope all of the other 8'ers in the area (and everyone else as well) are doing OK. Oh, and note to self, always trade the Beef Frankfurter MRE away.

 

The Associated Press Photo Archive has all of those photos and more. You have to have an account, though, or belong to a university that has one.

 

That's why the pensacolanewsjournal is so good..., free to all. No account needed.