Destin Damage or lack thereof;

[Beachwolverine]

Below is an email I received from friends that own a home in Emerald Bay. This is just east of Destin and just west of Sandestin. I have also had phone conversations with a couple of people in the area and the report is only minor damage, mostly superficial. We have condo in Seascape that is only 100yds from the shore and it appears to have suffered no damage and no flooding. I will be going down on Friday to inspect in person.

Here is the email:

As promised, I went into Destin to try and see what
damages were caused by the "H". You really had to look hard.
The most damage appears to be to all the signs that businesses
have out front. Most were either damaged in place or down
on the ground. There were several gas stations that had their
canopies, which cover the gas pumps, blown down are twisted.

We drove up 98 to the bridge where there were barricades to
keep you from driving toward Ft. Walton inasmuch as the road
across the stretch from the Destin Bridge to the Ft. Walton
Bridge has been washed away for some distance. We then drove
down Old 98 and saw some damage, mostly to the State parking areas along
the beach which were partially washed away.

We drove thru Seascape and things looked pretty normal except
for all of the debris from plants, pine straw and the pine
tree. There were several trees that were down and others that
were leaning over pretty far. We saw only minimal damage to
any buildings although there could be some that was not visible
to us from the car. The Whale's Tail appeared intact.

I took some pics and have included them as attachments. Not
much traffic now as you might guess. Red lights not working,
but the drivers have been very good about stopping anyway and
taking turns going thru or across. Lots of power outages yet,
I see many trucks with workers up on the poles attempting to
get power back for everyone. We have power as of yesterday
but down towards Sandestin, the power is not yet on. This
means that most business are closed creating a problem for
people wanting to eat out because of no power in their abodes.
The few restaurants that are open are jammed as you would
expect.

Cleanup starts tomorrow at Seascape on the golf course and I'm told they
will take one hole at a time and clean the fairway
and the green up and then go on to the next hole, etc. The
clubhouse has no power as of today but hopefully, they will
have it by tomorrow or Monday.

That's about it. This in now way compares to Opal as far as
damage is concerned. Destin was lucky, Navarre and Pensacola
were hit very hard with much more damage of the serious variety.

Hope all is going well for everyone and hope that's the last
of the "H's" although we still have a couple months to go.
Take care and look forward to seeing you all AFTER "H" season.

[cuffedlinks]

Thanks!!

I'll be sending this out to my wife's sisters and her mother who enjoy a long weekend at Destin Pointe on the beach usually March or October...

We're hoping everything comes out just fine for your place as well...

They love that area and the homes they stay in there are SO close to the beach...hoping the sand dunes and wild grasses helped hold back the water at least to some degree. Think there are 8 houses there along that stretch and the particular home they use is NOT elevated on stilts or whatever you'd call it...

Thanks for the post!

[SeekinaBeach]

My sister and her family were directly in Ivan's path, but are all OK. My niece emailed me this link: http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/ that has extensive pictures of the damage.

I think some of you have been asking for information about that area so I thought I'd share that link with you.

Barb

[TAPPY]

I have had alot of emails and reports from friends in that area - I also have had alot of pics/links sent to me of the damage....I believe there was a lot of damage to that area. If you didnt get any damage you were one of the very lucky ones.....

[Beachwolverine]

Thanks Tappy,

My guess is that you are getting information for west of Destin. No doubt that Navarre and Pensacola got hit very hard with a lot of damage. Destin is 50 miles east of Pensacola and 30 miles east of Navarre. Not a great distance, but it does make a big difference with the amount of damage in a hurricane.

Regards,
BW

[TAPPY]

Sandestin and Perdido Keys is where I have heard reports of damage.

[SeekinaBeach]

Here are some great before/after pictures from the USGS:
http://coastal.er.usgs.gov/hurricane...tos/index.html

Barb