Friday
Nov262004
Storm Devastation
Friday, November 26, 2004 at 01:04AM
I hope you all enjoyed a fabulous Thanksgiving. I did, with my husband, kids, and the outlaws in Pensacola, Florida. We had the big feast early in the afternoon, and then the turkey-drugs kicked in, leading to a late afternoon nap...and now I'm awake.
Russ and I took the kids out to Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach this morning, to survey the aftermath of the September hurricanes--it was sobering, horrible. I had no idea the damage and long-lasting impact from the storms. The beach communities are devastated. Even twenty miles inland, on the other side of Pensacola, it is a landscape of debris, huge trees snapped in half or fallen over--everywhere--and blue-tarped houses. The streets are lined on both sides with piles of branches; bits and pieces of houses, fencing, and roofs; and sometimes an entire household's contents, bulldozed up to the side of the road for removal. There are mountainous debris piles in designated spots around town--whole parks and baseball fields now filled with the remains of lives that were ripped apart.
The beaches are practically inaccessible. We made it across to Pensacola Beach, but could go less than half a mile in each direction before the roadblocks, keeping people out. We couldn't get to the places we have stayed, the beach condos, but the hotels and restaurants, the liquor stores and gift shops were all ripped out--the room on the beach in the Holiday Inn where I stayed this summer with Haleigh and Tiger was a gaping hole on the bottom floor--the whole bottom floor had simply been washed right out, including two pools and the playground area. The sand that used to be the beach now covers the parking lots, the road, and everything else.
We drove back to the mainland and south to Navarre Beach, which was even harder hit than Pensacola Beach. You can drive down the beach road for several miles, and it is complete devastation--all the beachfront homes, hotels and high-rise condos have been abandoned; the road is lined on both sides with chunks of concrete and household contents; the houses on their stilts look long-legged and rickety; stairs, driveways, garages, and whole houses have been washed away. It's hard to imagine a comeback after so much widespread destruction. I just kept thinking, this is people's lives lining the road. The destruction is unbelievable.
Russ and I took the kids out to Pensacola Beach and Navarre Beach this morning, to survey the aftermath of the September hurricanes--it was sobering, horrible. I had no idea the damage and long-lasting impact from the storms. The beach communities are devastated. Even twenty miles inland, on the other side of Pensacola, it is a landscape of debris, huge trees snapped in half or fallen over--everywhere--and blue-tarped houses. The streets are lined on both sides with piles of branches; bits and pieces of houses, fencing, and roofs; and sometimes an entire household's contents, bulldozed up to the side of the road for removal. There are mountainous debris piles in designated spots around town--whole parks and baseball fields now filled with the remains of lives that were ripped apart.
The beaches are practically inaccessible. We made it across to Pensacola Beach, but could go less than half a mile in each direction before the roadblocks, keeping people out. We couldn't get to the places we have stayed, the beach condos, but the hotels and restaurants, the liquor stores and gift shops were all ripped out--the room on the beach in the Holiday Inn where I stayed this summer with Haleigh and Tiger was a gaping hole on the bottom floor--the whole bottom floor had simply been washed right out, including two pools and the playground area. The sand that used to be the beach now covers the parking lots, the road, and everything else.
We drove back to the mainland and south to Navarre Beach, which was even harder hit than Pensacola Beach. You can drive down the beach road for several miles, and it is complete devastation--all the beachfront homes, hotels and high-rise condos have been abandoned; the road is lined on both sides with chunks of concrete and household contents; the houses on their stilts look long-legged and rickety; stairs, driveways, garages, and whole houses have been washed away. It's hard to imagine a comeback after so much widespread destruction. I just kept thinking, this is people's lives lining the road. The destruction is unbelievable.