Gulfshores-Pensacola trip.

[MGC]

Friday, my better half and I drove over to Gulfshores and took the coast highway over to Pensacola Beach. Things are still pretty tore up in the area. Downtown Gulfshores didn't look too bad until you get a block from the beach. Fairly extensive damage. Gulf State Park pier was still missing sections and the rental units were still recked. Looks like they will have to be torn down. Next we drove over to Orange Beach. Many beach houses are damaged beyond repair. We did notice that the salt water surge has caused all the trees and shrubs to die. Perdido Key was next and the same story, lots of damage along the coast and lots of work going on. Alabama is working hard to get things back to normal. We crossed the Florida-Alabama line and it was like going back in time. The Florida side still looks like a war zone. The road was still tore up while the road in Alabama was being repaved. Trash was still everywhere on the Florida side but Alabama had done a good job of cleaning up. On to Pensacola we traveled and the view along Gulf Highway was still very bad. Downtown Pensacola didn't look too bad. We crossed the bridge and eventually got to Pensacola Beach. Pensacola Beach is still in very bad shape. Looks like half or more of the standing structures will have to be torn down. Many beach facing buildings are still standing though ripped apart. They are in the process of sifting the sand and I noticed several sand piles as tall as a three story building. Florida still has a long long way to go to even get started. The stark contrast between recovery efforts between Alabama and Florida is quite evident. Florida seems to be waiting for Devine intervention.......MGC

[Rainband]

Sad. But we as Americans have and will overcome

[cajungal]

What about Destin? I planned a trip for Destin, Florida August 4th thru the 11th. I already booked a beach front condo (The Pelican Beach Resort.) I heard that Destin did not receive that much damage.

[Derek Ortt]

what needs to be done is to prohibit any more construction along the coast as the same exact thing happened in 1995 with Erin and Opal for the area, and it is going to happen again in the very near future.

I do not want any of my tax payer dollars going to help these people to set another structure up to be knocked down. Enough is enough. A mile or so from the coast is close enough

[MGC]

I didn't make it to Destin. Perhaps Dean can answer that question. I know the Holiday Inn in Narvarre is closed and that is only a few miles from Destin. Yep Derek, our tax dollars will be used to rebuild all those rich peoples beach houses......MGC

[Ixolib]

what needs to be done is to prohibit any more construction along the coast as the same exact thing happened in 1995 with Erin and Opal for the area, and it is going to happen again in the very near future.

I do not want any of my tax payer dollars going to help these people to set another structure up to be knocked down. Enough is enough. A mile or so from the coast is close enough

I'll second that motion. It's already too bad that the public seashore can't be accessed by the public because of private building. Used to be able to drive along the beach in Gulf Shores, P'Cola, Destin, Ft. Walton, etc and actually "see" the beach and water. Not any more....

[vbhoutex]

What about Destin? I planned a trip for Destin, Florida August 4th thru the 11th. I already booked a beach front condo (The Pelican Beach Resort.) I heard that Destin did not receive that much damage.

Destin is in good shape from what I have heard. My mom lives across the bay from Destin in Niceville and has been over to Destin several times since Ivan.

[Brent]

My grandma, aunt, and cousin left for Pensacola Beach today. I warned them it's probably still a disaster area down here, but had thought(perhaps hoped) that it would have been cleaned up for Spring Break this week. That is sad... we were down there last June and the area is just so beautiful, it's so sad to hear it's STILL a mess.

[JTD]

Absolutely, Brent. I was shocked reading MGC's post. To me it shows just how longlasting the devastation is when major hurricanes strike; something I never really thought about until now.

[Matt-hurricanewatcher]

I agree with Derek ortt here. It is BS to rebuild with in a few miles of the coast. Lets get smart where we build are homes. We need not build close to the ocean. It cost alot of money to rebuild then rebuild again every few years. Lets just move our towns inland...Lets think before we do something that will cost us money/In lifes!!!

We in hurricanes can live together only if we don't build right on the coast. In I think we can.



In another fact is if another December 26th Tsunami where to happen to the east coast/Gulf of Mexico by building inland we would have alot less death. So doing this is a good idea all the way around.

[MSRobi911]

Matt

Unfortunately, after Camille the Biloxi/Gulfport cities - Harrison County made it against the law/building codes to build along the south side of Highway 90 in these areas. This was status quo for many years until.....guess what....

CASINOS ARRIVED!!!!!


Money talks.....and now you can not see the water from Hwy. 90 along most of the entire strip.

Sad, sad thing, they were supposed to be able to move them in the event of a hurricane, now they have been there so long, they say there is no way to move the barges because of the sediment and mud and they wouldn't budge if you tried. So if something happens, the tops will blow off and the barges will go inland onto houses and churches.

Mary

[MGC]

Yep, I would hate to see Biloxi if Ivan had hit say Long Beach. It will be bad....MGC

[iceangel]

Perdido Key was next and the same story, lots of damage along the coast and lots of work going on. We crossed the Florida-Alabama line and it was like going back in time. The Florida side still looks like a war zone. The road was still tore up Trash was still everywhere on the Florida side . On to Pensacola we traveled and the view along Gulf Highway was still very bad. Downtown Pensacola didn't look too bad. We crossed the bridge and eventually got to Pensacola Beach. Pensacola Beach is still in very bad shape. Looks like half or more of the standing structures will have to be torn down. Many beach facing buildings are still standing though ripped apart. They are in the process of sifting the sand and I noticed several sand piles as tall as a three story building. Florida still has a long long way to go to even get started. The stark contrast between recovery efforts between Alabama and Florida is quite evident. Florida seems to be waiting for Devine intervention.......MGC

Florida seems to be waiting for Devine intervention

http://www.pensacolanewsjournal.com/new ... 2391.shtml

[GulfBreezer]

"Florida seems to be waiting for Devine intervention"

I would depend more on "Divine Intervention".............

We have just now started sheetrocking this weekend..........I lost EVERYTHING from 4 feet down and ceiling up............... it is still crazy here, Insurance companies are not paying out enough to cover contracted labor so most everyone is having to do the work themselves....(my scenario), weekend warriors .......all of us! We would love some DIVINE INTERVENTION right about now.