Hurricane Ivan - Damage to Greater Pensacola Area, Set A
Text and Photos Copyright ©2004 by Carolyne Butler
Hurricane Ivan arrived in our area during Wednesday night and Thursday morning of September 15/16, 2004. On Thursday, there was a 24-hour curfew on driving anywhere, except for emergency vehicles. Even after the 24-hour driving curfew was lifted on Friday and replaced with a 12-hour nighttime curfew, it was strongly recommended that people keep off the roads. Power lines and trees were down in the streets, and debris was scattered everywhere.
Due to damage to Gulf Power's power plant plus almost 800 miles of major transmission lines down, there was a major outage of electricity in several counties. Traffic lights weren't working. Emergency vehicles, tree cutters, power trucks, and other service vehicles needed to have the right of way, and not be blocked by a bunch of extra vehicles on the road driven around by sightseerers. Driving anywhere was nerve-wracking anyway, so we stayed off the roads for the first few weeks as much as possible except when it was absolutely necessary to go somewhere. When we did go somewhere, my camera went along with me.
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A hurricane-spawned tornado went through this area on Davis Highway (Florida Highway 291). (Saturday, 18 September 2004)
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This is another view of one of the buildings in the above picture. (Saturday, 18 September 2004)
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The electricity was still out almost everywhere, so only traffic lights hooked to generators were working. Law enforcement officers plus the National Guard helped direct traffic at many of the busier intersections. (Saturday, 18 September 2004)
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Free ice was being distributed in a number of locations, and it was eagerly welcomed. This is near University Mall on Davis Highway. (Tuesday, 21 September 2004)
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All hospitals in Pensacola were damaged. This is a view of West Florida Medical Center and West Florida Hospital on Davis Highway. The long hose is most likely for pumping hot air in to dry out the areas where they had water damage. (Tuesday, 21 September 2004)
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Over five weeks after the above picture was taken, patching up and repairs continue on West Florida Medical Center and West Florida Hospital. (Saturday, 30 October 2004)
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You can tell from the debris that this neighborhood's trees were predominately pine. (Sunday, 26 September 2004)
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We were told to keep building debris separate from vegetative debris. Sights such as this became commonplace. (Sunday, 26 September 2004)
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Six weeks after Ivan and there is still a massive amount of trash to be hauled away. It's going to take months. (Friday, 29 October 2004)
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Self explanatory. (Wednesday, 29 September 2004 )
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Even though the name was blown away, most folks know who these golden arches advertise. Out of all the McDonald's around town, only one sign that I've seen so far remained undamaged. (Wednesday, 29 September 2004)
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Hundreds of other signs such as this remain unrepaired. This one needs a new U, H, U, L. (Friday, 29 October 2004)
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This is just a small section of a great mass of ruined insulation and ceiling taken from wind- and rain-damaged Woodham High School. (Sunday, 3 October 2004)
(Addendum, January 2005: The damage to schools in Escambia County came to about $75 million.)
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Where does all the storm trash go? A great deal of it is ending up in a large athletic field on Nine Mile Road (US Highway Alt. 90). In this field—too large to encompass with one picture—there's a growing mountain of tree debris covering many acres, plus another mouuntain of non-vegatative debris. In this picture, the large pile is tree debris that has already been chipped. After that, I don't know what they're going to do with it all. (Friday, 29 October 2004)
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Posted 12 October 2004
Added 5 pictures 30 October 2004