CQ Florida, Alabama, Georgia...

[N7AAO]

Okay, roll call of all the southern US members here... how did all of ya fare with Ivan the Terrible?

Dunno about anyone else, but I've been praying for all of you.

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/unclesam.gif

[KB5WX]

David ,
Still here and still on the air . Here in Northeastern Alabama , we had a lot of rain and some fairly strong winds . 40 - 50 mph or so . our storm spotters were very busy on Thursday night as was the Alabama emergency net . The folks down south on the coast were the hardest hit , and I continue to pray for their speedy recovery from the effects of Ivan . Thanks for the thoughts and prayers my friend . They are very much appreciated .

[N7AAO]

Quote[/b] (AI4FP @ Sep. 19 2004,12:31)]David ,
Still here and still on the air . Here in Northeastern Alabama , we had a lot of rain and some fairly strong winds . 40 - 50 mph or so . our storm spotters were very busy on Thursday night as was the Alabama emergency net . The folks down south on the coast were the hardest hit , and I continue to pray for their speedy recovery from the effects of Ivan . Thanks for the thoughts and prayers my friend . They are very much appreciated .
Thoughts, prayers, and Red Cross donations... that's about all I could do from 7-land. http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif

[ai4ep]

elephants have good memories ROLL TIDE

[ky5u]

Pensacola- Two trees on my house, extensive roof damage, rain and water inside. #36 trees in my yard ALL down. #Power will be down for 6-8 weeks. Sound like alot of damage? #There were tens of thousands worse. #One amateur friend had 8' of salt water in his home. #One 6 story condo broke across the middle right to left and colapsed.

The beaches now have 6-10 foot cliffs behind many condos down to the beach. #600+ miles of high voltage feeder lines out. #Miles of road covered by 8' of sand or gone. #Pensacola Beach, Perdido Key, Gulf Shores, Ono Island, and Orange Beach look like bombed out WWII European cities. #There is a 60 mile path of destruction from the beach to south of Montgomery, Al. #60% of Mobile is without power, 90% of Baldwin County, nearly 90% of Ecambia county Florida and Escambia County Al. are without power. #60% of Santa-Rosa County without power.

Damage at the Naval Museum, Sherman Field, Eglin, and many commercial airports. #Pensacola Airport still closed. #Gas lines in Florida in Santa Rosa and Escambia where power is on go for 2-3 miles. I booked into a hotel in Brewton, Al. 60 miles north of Pensacola and arrived to find no hotel. #It was gone. My wife and I are living in a motor home in Mobile.

I-10 bridge over Escambia Bay is broken BOTH lanes. #One spot broke as an 18 wheeler was crossing and the cab went over. #They found the driver still in his seat on the bottom of the bay. #Bridges to the beaches from I-10 are damaged or gone. #In my community 10 miles north of Perdido Bay, 90% of the trees are broken or fallen. #50% of all houses have moderate damage.

People working for me in the affected area that worked the Florida storms agree that this ONE storm was much worse than the TWO that went through Central Florida. #That is hard to imagine. #Of course the psychological strain on them was worse. #A friend of mine who was one of the "Blackhawk Down" soldiers is in the Guard now and agrees that the destruction is sickening.
#
Understand there are many homes with little or no damage, but no AREA without damage. #Imagine you're lucky and no damage from the storm. #You have no electricity, no food store, no gas station, no place to go to work, no place to cash your paycheck. #When you drive anywhere you have to plan for fuel or be stranded. #Many people are carrying 5gal cans of gas strapped to their vehicles, so imagine traffic accidents. Also, don't leave your vehicle unattended or it will be drained clean of petrol. Looters are out and armed soldiers patrol the streets in many areas.

I was on a chopper doing tower surveys for my company yesterday for 5 hours and flew the entire area. #The only term that adequately fits is that we were wiped clean by the hand of God.

[N7AAO]

YO, is yours the house with the huge old oak that you were worried about before Charley? Or am I getting my Floridians mixed up?

http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/unclesam.gif

[KG4YUV]

Dalton, GA vicinity:

Doing good, no damage! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif

ARES was close to activated but deemed unnecessary.

[n5tjd]

I know there are a lot of displaced people. All the hotels in the area are packed and we are 300 miles out from the damaged area. Lots of Alabama license plates on the road out here. I was wondering why before it hit me late last week.

[NJ4R]

I'm in the Port Charlotte Fl area...this place was hit hard ,I was lucky #in that I got very little damage #but not too far from here over 10,000 residences sustained major damage or were outright destroyed....lots of towers and antennas lost.....just glad Ivan bypassed us this time......

[k9kxq]

YO, I'm happy to see your post and know you are well and not hurt, we have been concerned about you...

kxq

[WA5KRP]

YO,

Sad to hear that........you've described a perfect nightmare. Hope you'll have a swift recovery.



WA5KRP
Texas

[W0BLH]

Quote[/b] (k9kxq @ Sep. 20 2004,03:12)]YO, I'm happy to see your post and know you are well and not hurt, we have been concerned about you...

kxq
Charlie, we are glad to hear that you and the family are OK and wish you a speedy recovery on the home repairs and get back on the air soon, buddy.

Andy
WØBLH

[W0BLH]

Glen, K9STH***Have you heard any reports from Mike N4DIA in Pensacola? We are hoping that all is well with him and the family. The AG4YO report, from Charlie, brought the devistation report to us first hand and just how bad it is.

Andy
WØBLH

[ky5u]

Thanks to all those who commented. Andy and Jim thanks for the mail.

[K9STH]

I have not heard anything from N4DIA. I don't know if he lived in an area that they are not letting the residents back into or what.

My wife did hear from her eldest sister who lives in Panama City Beach a little over 4 blocks from the Gulf. The location where the FOX Network guy kept broadcasting from is about 6 blocks from her house. I recognized the location since we have gone down there many times.

Their lot is not that wide but is very deep and has/had a wood stockade type of fence around it. Half of the fence was blown down and the other half is leaning. They have a large metal storage building in their back yard and it survived without any apparent damage! My wife's sister is going to have their insurance company look at their roof but from the ground it looks intact. Otherwise they did not have any damage except that all the leaves on the trees had turned black.

Now, their house is less than 20 years old and was well constructed (not like some of the "rental" properties that are nearer to the Gulf). Their son and their youngest daughter's husband drove down from Atlanta with a load of plywood and other lumber to "board up" all of the windows. The Florida Highway Patrol said that they would let them into the area but that they should be VERY careful because people doing the same thing had been "hijacked" for their lumber (which could be sold at a pretty high price since the home improvement centers had run out of plywood, "chip board", etc.).

They made it fine and put the plywood up using screws instead of nails. Screws hold better than nails or staples and allow the wood to be removed without damage and used over and over.

One of the tornadoes sat down about 7 or 8 blocks away from their house. That is the one that destroyed one of the restaurants. My wife and I have eaten at that particular location in the past.

I have not heard anything from my uncle who lives in Fort Walton Beach. However, he is several miles from the Gulf and his house is pretty well protected in its locale.

My youngest daughter who lives in the Atlanta, Georgia, area lost a large tree and had some water damage to her back yard. There is what they call an arroyo in Arizona in her back yard. Basically this is dry unless there are heavy rains. Then it can get several feet of water in it. In fact, she actually has a small bridge between the area of the house and the rest of her back yard. She also lost power for several hours but that got corrected before dawn. My wife's relatives that live in the Atlanta area did not suffer any damage from the rain and flooding.

My wife and I are very happy that none of our family had that much damage from any of the hurricanes that "hit" Florida. My mother's sisters and one of her brothers live in the Sebring area and had some damage from the earlier hurricanes. But, none of their homes were destroyed.

Glen, K9STH

[K4JSR]

Lotsa wind and rain around Bethlehem, Ga. Power was
out for about 8 hours total. Phones were useless for
several hours, also. No real damage in this area, but
there were tornados to the north, east and south of us.
I stayed on the air as long as it was dark. Fortunately
my battery power did not give out!
73, Cal K4JSR EC Barrow County, Ga.

YO, sorry about you damages, but happy that you and
your family are OK.

[N4DIA]

N4DIA is alive and finally working on his own house. #I worked the County EOC for the days after the storm and was the Gateway station from the home QTH during the storm.

Unfortunately, a neighbors 80+ foot pine tree snapped at the base and decided the corner of my garage was a good resting place. #Actually, several neighbors pine trees made their homes in my yard. #I had removed any pine tree on my property that could reach the house years ago. #The same pine that took out the back of my garage, roof and cracked the foundation also landed across the guy wires to my 70 tower. Luckily, the tower went down in the back yard and not on any structures.

Between FEMA and my Home Owners Insurance, they are reimbursing me 100% for the loss of the Amateur gear including my Yaesu Field that took a lightning surge. (I knew there was a reason I took a rider out on my policy.)

Being EOC, I had a chance to see a lot of the damage the public couldn't. #Areas leveled. Some areas look like nothing at all happened but as a veteran of a lot of hurricanes, this is normal.

ARES operated as well as I have ever observed. #Escambia County (Pensacola) has a fantastic group of hams that I would call Professional rather than Amateurs. I am not sure what the County would have done without KB4HAH. I would like to personally commend a goup of U S Navy Sailors from CORY Station and the CORY Station MARS who manned EOC for more hours than I can count. These members of our Armed Forces went far beyond the call of duty to help the community they share in Pensacola.

I was one of the lucky ones. #Generator and battery back up system worked flawlessly at my home allowing for semi normal living conditions. #Structural damage was mild considering the folks who no longer have homes.

For those interested, the initial reports from NAS Pensacola follows -

A majority of base roads are impassable.
Generator power to selected buildings only
Reported damage to every building on station - 90% of buildings have
suffered "significant" damage.
Currently no power - no water - no sewage.
Sporadic gas leaks exist all over the base.
Phone landlines restored on limited capability this morning
Internet connectivity/Navy.mil website still down. ETR sometime Sunday or
Monday.
Base Public Affairs Office destroyed (National Historic Building) - photo
lab destroyed.
Naval Air Technical Training Center was completely under water
Pensacola Naval Air Station Museum structure held up. Should be able to reopen with # very little repairs. Only damaged aircraft were out on the flight line behind the restoration #hanger. The S-3 President Bush flew aboard #USS Abraham Lincoln is intact and #undamaged.

Coast Guard station reported destroyed
Air Station Cemetery intact
Approximately 10% of power lines are down - conservative estimate.
Runways are capable - Air Control tower structure ok - Radar is down

Blue Angels
All Blue Angels operations are on hold #Scheduled show this weekend in
Nantucket is canceled. #Every member of Blue Angels reporting damage to
their homes - currently
working on return plan to Pensacola.

NAS Whiting Field
Every hangar at Whiting is missing its roof.
Aircraft damage in hangars is suspected. Full BDA still ongoing.
No one other than emergency personnel are allowed on base
Two-thirds of all primary air training is held at NAS Whiting
Primary and helicopter training held at NAS Whiting completely down for
approximately two weeks.

Updating that, Blue Angels will stay based at NAS Pensacola and are planning to resume
shows after a brief trip out to El Centro. #The BA Hanger held up well. #VT
4 hanger's roof is folded up like an accordion. I didn't get a chance to
enter it to access damage.

Damage is bad (At NAS Pensacola) but not as bad as first reported. #Clean up and reconstruction
has already done an amazing job. #Survival School (NOMI) on the water front
did well and could be operational in a few weeks.

http://members.cox.net/zuben/sunshinestate.jpg

[kg4kww]

Hey Folks in Fl, Al and GA, turn your beams to the N,NE and give us a call on 144.200 2 meter ssb. So, we can find out how you all are doing.

[ky5u]

Kww,

Ever thought that many may have lost antennas in the storm?

[ky5u]

Glad you made it Mike!

[N4DIA]

Chuck,

Thanks. How did you fare?

Mike

[k9kxq]

Mike, good to see you back...

kxq http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/cool.gif

[ai4ep]

now 2 weks later...dead leaves all through the area, broken limbs...dead leaves...never got a change to show their potential beauty by changing color in the fall...dead leaves

[n4ems]

We had no problems at all from Ivan here in the Tampa area other than some jackass reporter in the Orlando area started some rumor about the state enacting gas rationing. #That caused a lot of gas lines and fuel supplies the day before the supposed "rationing" went into effect to disappear faster than you can blink! #That frustration compounded with the lack of wood for windows, a lack of screws to hold on that missing wood should you find some, traffic jams and runs at the grocery stores made for a very intense couple of days! http://www.qrz.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/tounge.gif

As far as the other hurricanes go, we had the usual lots of rain, strong winds, etc. in our area. #We are far enough in land that coastal flooding is not an issue, however, river flooding is. #Our home was spared from any of that but some of our "neighbors" here in Pasco County did not fair so well. #Several homes are still flooded (10/1/04) and several are still without power.

We were, (I can't say this enough), EXTREMELY lucky as the area's to our north, south and east were hit pretty hard. #I guess those Angels on your shoulders really DO help!

Thanks for everyone's concern and wishes of well being.

[ky5u]

I assume you're yacking my way, Mike. #Took it on the nose here. #Two trees on the house, both with roof damage. #24 out of 36 trees in the yard are history. #Got power back one day shy of two weeks after having to wire around attic damage. #Thanks to Gulf Power for being so professional. Tree on house busted out bay windows, filled house with water. #Sheet rock is history in the kitchen. #Most carpet ruined. #

The good news is no damaged rigs. #Had taken antennas down before the storm so I have something to put up, just nothing to attach them to.

I MISS MY CW!!!! # LOL # Sit listening to portable shortwave tuned to CW bands....a tear beads up in my eye, a tear of sadness.... #LOL # Woeful look of longing....

Charlie

[WA5KRP]

JEEZ,


The whole mess sounds horrendous. Somebody in the salvage business is going to fatten up big time with all that aluminum laying around.


WA5KRP
Texas