1995 Luis,Marilyn and Georges 1998

[EDR1222]

Hey everyone.

I know many of us would like something to track now, but right now it is just sit and wait.

I was browsing some websites, including the National Hurricane Center and was reading up on some past storms as many of us like to do

I was just curious if some people out there had some personal experiences they would like to share from Hurricane's Luis and Marilyn of 95 and Georges of 98. I know Georges affected the U.S. but I was more interested in what occured in the islands. I know many areas down there were hit really hard. I was not previously aware of the extent of damage that occured on Barbuda from Luis and also many of the other islands including Puerto Rico, from these three devestating hurricanes. Also, have most areas down there completely recovered from these storms?

Thoughts and comments are welcome.

[cycloneye]

Of those three hurricanes that you mentioned,Georges was the one I experienced directly as it made landfall here.The eye passed around ten miles south of where I was at that time in a condo.As I was in the northern eyewall which was the strongest part I felt hurricane force winds that cause the condo to move a little.Water penetrated the apartment from the balcony.It was a not pleasant experience to be in a borderline cat 2/3 hurricane.The aftermath was horrible as we were without water and power for 3 weeks.

[EDR1222]

That definately sounds pretty scary, especially with the water coming in like that. You can protect yourself and your home from wind to a certain degree, but as we all know the water is pretty much unstoppable.

I know you guys were hit really hard by Georges.

[weatherwindow]

georges was the first serious storm to affect the lower keys in 50 years...was living on the water on lower sugarloaf key..6 foot storm tide and 1min winds of 106...power/phone down for 12 days and i now love the red cross food....rich

[PTPatrick]

I experienced Goerge's Eastern eyewall near Pascagoula, MS, for about 20 hrs...It was a borderline 2/3 as it hit Mississippi(sustained winds were 110 MPH). I watched as it dumped nearly 2 ft of rain, and brought a surge of 15 ft(unofficial, this is the level that was read inside my uncles house, which may have included freshwater floodwaters as well...incedentally, Katrina dwarfed this floodline by a landslide, covering the house past the roof). It is the only true eyewall I have ever been in. It was quite scary. We rode the storm out at a junior high school(my mom was the principal so it was just us and some close family and friends). I heard window break, cielings collapse as debris cut holes in the roof which caused flooding, and I was standing under an alluminum awning which peeled away above my head sending me running inside. honestly, the wind was bad, worse than I expected from a Cat 2.

[MGC]

I only saw TS force winds from Georges......MGC

[Lindaloo]

So true PT. Georges winds were bad. My sister called us on the phone from Atlanta. She said "Is that the wind?" I said "Yep" Out of all the hurricanes I have been through, Georges was the first one I have ever seen a tornado in. It was scary.


PT, Katrina basically wiped out Pecan. All those houses by 90 are gone now, except for one.

[boca]

I was in Wilma's eyewall and also her eye as Palm Beach County as a whole was in her eye. I watched the wind go from calm to 90 to 100 mph in 10 seconds quite amazing.

[loro-rojo]

I remember all of of the 3 storms well, but since I lived at the time in San Juan, PR, only Georges was a direct hit.

Both Luis and Marylin passed to the north of the PR, but Marylin did hit the island of Vieques directly.

For Georges, I stayed in a family concrete house in Condado (part of greater San Juan), about a 1/4 mile inland. We had sea water comming in from under the door during the worst part, but besides the flooding, we personally didnt suffer major structural damages. I was in west The worst part was the not having water for 3 weeks, and no power for 5 weeks...

The last part of your question about if there is still recovering going on, well, I guess that there still is, but in no way it is was anything like the recovery in NO water Katrina or in Dade county after Andrew. A large percentage of the homes and building in PR are made of concrete and bricks (including the roofs), so you dont see over here the large numbers of blown and damages roofs, as you see in the states.

[kenl01]

I remember Luis from 1995. I was living in an apartment complex in Mt Pleasant about to decide which motel I'd evacuate to incase it would threaten the SE down the road. I remember it being a classic Cape Verde system (I think) as it moved across the tropical Atlantic. At the time I thought it was gonna turn towards the SE later in the forecast period. It eventally went out to sea.
It was a biggie !

[Javlin]

I was in Georges in the W eye wall.It too for me was one of the scarier storms ( maybe the night thing).The winds literally howled that night and the house shuddered more in Georges than it did in Katrina.I agree PT tornadoes were abundant.I was never so happy to go into the eye.I knew he was going to stall and did not help the fellow citizens to the E at all.

[Lindaloo]

Didn't help us at all Javlin. That was the first time I have ever been in the actuall eyewall without a break in the eye. It was terrible.

[PTPatrick]

Another thing about Georges...Is that is wiped out places that for the most part, were never really captured on TV...Pecan and Orange Grove, Graveline Bayou in Gautier, Bell Fountain Beach, and a few houses along the bayou at the end of Pascagoula Beach. Orange Grove/Pecan literally saw 2, 100 year floods in less than 10 years. What people all across the Mississippi coast felt after Katrina, was already felt 8 years ago by a small number of people in the bayous, and beaches east of Ocean Springs.

One good thing about Georges was actually the reason that I convinced my parents to evactuate Katrina. They were actually going to stay at a school south of highway 90 that my mom is principal of. They talked to older folks in the area that said, oh, Camille only brought water up to such and such street, and since Katrina isnt going to be a direct hit we should be fine. But after I explained to them that Georges matched and beat Camilles water in most areas of Pascagoula and Moss Point, and that for the most part there really was no presidence for the amount of water that could come in with a storm the size of Katrina, they agreed to leave...her school had 4-5 ft of water.