Hurricane Ivan - Damage to Pensacola area within one mile of our home
Text and Photos Copyright ©2004 by Carolyne Butler
(Posted 5 October 2004)
Hurricane Ivan, which arrived in our area during Wednesday night and Thursday morning on September 15/16, 2004, spawned over 50 tornadoes in the Pensacola area (or so I'm told). No, make that over 70 tornadoes (or so I was told later). Most of the people in our neighborhood believe that one of those tornadoes passed through our area. There is extra heavy damage along a path that runs from east to west for about three miles or so, from what damage we've been able to see so far. These pictures taken between 18 September and 3 October show some of the damage within one mile or less of our home.
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A fallen live oak crowds the exit of SunTrust Bank on Davis Highway. (Saturday, 18 September 2004)
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Damage to a billboard next door to SunTrust Bank. (Saturday, 18 September 2004)
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Two days after the storm these trees are still lying where they fell into our street a couple of blocks east of our house. This scene was repeated all over town, and made for hazardous driving. Trees down like this, plus power lines being down, were strong reasons for declaring a curfew on driving from 7:00 PM until 7:00 AM. (Saturday, 18 September 2004)
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This particular neighborhood is between one-half to three-quarters of a mile to the west of us. The houses here are surrounded by pine trees, originally planted as a tree plantation for the paper mill. (Tuesday, 21 September 2004)
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I'm guessing, but I believe the people in the blue shirts are with Operation Blue Roof through FEMA. Pensacola began to sprout a multitude of blue roofs as tarps were issued to those who had roof damage. See http://www.saj.usace.army.mil/blueroof_ivan.htm (Tuesday, 21 September 2004)
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Another house with fallen pines. (Tuesday, 21 September 2004)
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Every tree is down in this yard. (Tuesday, 21 September 2004).
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What was once a healthy stand of tall pines is now only a memory. (Sunday, 26 September 2004)
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More fallen pines. (Sunday, 26 September 2004)
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This house already has its blue roof. (Sunday, 26 September 2004)
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The piles of fallen trees continue to grow. (Sunday, 26 September 2004)
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The building surrounding the water pump near Pensacola Junior College was blown away. (Wednesday, 29 September 2004)
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Everywhere one looks, it's just one big mess. (Sunday, 3 October 2004)
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Back in the early to mid 1950's, I used to ride my horse through here. That was before people started building houses here, and there were just open fields and woodland and these planted groves of pines. When I was on horseback, I could see out over the tops of these pine trees, and I've watched them grow tall throughout the years.
This picture clearly shows another danger besides the problem there is in manuevering a vehicle along streets with such piles of litter stacked on each side of the road. On Sunday, 3 October, the county had to put out seven brush fires. There has been a fire ban in the county all along. On Monday, 4 October, the radio warned of the big fire hazard in the area due to there being no rain since the storm, and the humidity has been low. All this tree debris that hasn't been picked up (and there are mountains of it everywhere) has had three-and-a-half weeks to dry out, and now it's a conflagration waiting to happen. (Sunday, 3 October 2004)