Local Perspective on Opal, please?

[Paula]

I was reading the posting about the shark at Grayton and Snerd posted that she's a local. So, I've been curious about Hurricane Opal, what it did to the area, how people reacted, and how the area was built back up (e.g., did the dunes come back naturally or with human intervention because they looked so wonderful right before Ivan which was about 10 years after Opal I believe). Anyway, I think getting a history of the area is interesting for those of us who are newer SoWallers. Anyone with Opal stories?

[Mango]

I'm a newbie, but years ago when I was looking at homes, a realtor who was raised there told us that there was some sand dredging after Opal. Boats were seen on the beach kicking out sand. I am not sure what areas. But I was also told that mother nature also kicks in to help over time.

[kurt]

It was pretty devastating to the beaches and ate up some dunes. The dunes after Opal looked similar to how they looked after Ivan.

Then there was a lot of beach scraping where they actually used backhoe buckets to dip sand out of the water at the waterline. After the first pass they went back through a couple of times.

The sand that was taken from the waterline was pushed back to the dune line. There were massive sea oat plantings all along the beaches. A lot of gulf front owners had high-quality sand trucked in and planted sea oats.

30A was washed out at Dune Allen, Western Lake, and Eastern Lake. The road at the lake was rebuilt and rocks placed along the side to prevent washout. Grayton Beach around the Red Bar was flooded badly and many homes were washed off of their foundation. The water level from Opal was higher than from any storm since.

The dunes were almost back to pre-Opal status when Ivan hit. But the level of the horizontal beach was still down a few feet, making Ivan's impact on the dunes larger. Ivan, Arlene, and a couple of minor storms, and further scraping lowered the beach even more leaving the dunes extremely vulnerable to Dennis.

Proponents of beach scraping say that it simply speeds nature by helping to migrate sand from the beach to the dunes, which they argue will happen over time from wind anyhow. My uneducated opinion is that it speeds the lowering of the beach level so that even the smallest event causes damage. It seems logical to me that the natural process builds beach first, then dunes. But that would require more patience on our part.

I'm not saying scraping is the only cause of our problems. It seems now that dredging, right or wrong, is the only real way to protect property now, if that is the goal.

Another note on Opal - there was quite the boom here afterwards, when large money flowed in and large structures rose quickly.

[Mermaid]

The previous owner of our condo left behind a huge sandollar, no flaws, and marked the back of it "Opal 1995." So I guess Opal washed up some really big shells?

[Paula]

Ivan washed up some beautiful shells as well in perfect condition. I have a very large bowl of them here in Michigan to remind me of SoWal (and Ivan). I also have a nice small plastic Spongebob SquarePants that I saved from the waters after Ivan (in the bowl with the shells now).

[Mango]

Ivan washed up some beautiful shells as well in perfect condition. I have a very large bowl of them here in Michigan to remind me of SoWal (and Ivan). I also have a nice small plastic Spongebob SquarePants that I saved from the waters after Ivan (in the bowl with the shells now).

Spongebob- how cute Paula. :clap_1: Love that cartoon.

[Paula]

Spongebob- how cute Paula. :clap_1: Love that cartoon.

He'ss very cute. I feel like I saved him from the storm. One of these days I'll make a shadow box with a few photos of before and after Ivan, SpongeBob, and some shells... I found a lot of olive shells and bonnet shells (tons of bonnet shells) and a few good-sized fancy ones as well. No sand dollars though.

[Beachbummett]

After Ivan we found beautiful bonnett shells everywhere! I have many bowls of them. There were thousands of live starfish (or parts of them) I was throwing some back in and was told you can't make a difference they are all just going to die. I picked one up threw it in and said "made a difference to that one!"
We also found a top plate of false teeth and some bent up eyeglasses. Makes you wonder where that came from?!
We came down the day after Ivan and was just kind of stunned. Not by much devastation of buildings but at the beaches. I think they look so pretty now just a little less than two years after. I have many pictures after Ivan and would try to post them if I could ever figure out how! Kurt?!

[kurt]

After Ivan we found beautiful bonnett shells everywhere! I have many bowls of them. There were thousands of live starfish (or parts of them) I was throwing some back in and was told you can't make a difference they are all just going to die. I picked one up threw it in and said "made a difference to that one!"
We also found a top plate of false teeth and some bent up eyeglasses. Makes you wonder where that came from?!
We came down the day after Ivan and was just kind of stunned. Not by much devastation of buildings but at the beaches. I think they look so pretty now just a little less than two years after. I have many pictures after Ivan and would try to post them if I could ever figure out how! Kurt?!

Go to the photo gallery and click "upload". Pics need to be less than humongous.

[Mango]

The previous owner of our condo left behind a huge sandollar, no flaws, and marked the back of it "Opal 1995." So I guess Opal washed up some really big shells?

That was nice of the previous owner to leave behind a piece of beach memorabilia for you to keep. :clap_1:

[Beach Runner]

Here's a Georgia perspective on Opal. I've heard we had it worse.

We have a reproduction of an 1830's Louisiana plantation house designed by the late Samuel Wilson, Jr., of Koch & Wilson in New Orleans. He insisted on authenticity, which included working hurricane shutters. We agreed, even though we laughed about a hurricane coming to this part of Georgia.

When we got the warnings for Opal, we decided to use them. Bottom line is that we needed them. There were large tree branches, etc., that had been hurled toward our home. The storm knocked down 40 trees in our yard, blocking our driveway (thankfully my husband had a chainsaw). We were without power for a week because a secondary power line was down, couldn't be accessed from our yard because of all of the downed trees, and our "neighbor" wouldn't allow the power company to access it from her side because she didn't want her lawn damaged. Yet she had so many trees down that her house was on the front page of the newspaper! We rented a room at the Holiday Inn and would go there just to take a warm shower. But we stayed at home where I prepared my lectures via candlelight.

It was also my provisional year in Junior League. We had scheduled our annual attic sale fundraiser for that Saturday. I'll never forget setting it up and pulling off the sale with no power. We actually had a big crowd because people were bored - no power, so you couldn't watch TV, cook meals, do laundry, run the vacuum cleaner, etc. :biggrin:

BTW it was pretty scary. I couldn't believe how noisy it was. The house shook. Thankfully our house was not damaged, even though one huge tree missed the house by inches. Our Weimaraner was forever scarred by it. From then on, whenever it even rained, she'd get scared. Once we were shopping at Lenox and when we returned, we saw blood everywhere. A thunderstorm had popped up while we were gone, and she had tried to claw her way into the house, injuring herself. Another time we had just had the house painted. A thunderstorm came up while we were gone, and she damaged all of the doors on the front gallery. So the claw marks had to be sanded down, and the doors had to be repainted. After that we put an Invisible Fence under the house so she couldn't get to the doors when it rained, and kept one garage door slightly open so she could feel safe inside.

[Beachbummett]

Go to the photo gallery and click "upload". Pics need to be less than humongous.

Describe humongous...i have tried to load pictures from my computer and it tells me it is too large. I do not know how to reduce them. Can you tell me how to do this?
BTW...if I ever figure this out you will all be in trouble! I have some great photos of a lot of locals!!!

[beacheart]

The remembrances I have to add about "Opal" is that a house at Dune Allen was blown across the road into Oyster Lake. There were several houses on the beach that collapsed. It may have been tornados because one house would be standing and the one next to it collapsed. The beach looked alot worse than after Ivan and Dennis. That could be due to the fact that the dunes were so large and plentiful and we all had been use to seeing them. Not so after Ivan and Dennis. The dunes had not recovered to pre-Opal when Ivan came.

[Mermaid]

All about Opal:

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurricaneopal.htm

BR, after reading your account, I was racking my brains trying to figure out how I have no memory of it. Then I googled the exact date, and it turns out we left Atlanta for Indianapolis only the month before. Narrow escape!

[Beach Runner]

All about Opal:

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurricaneopal.htm

BR, after reading your account, I was racking my brains trying to figure out how I have no memory of it. Then I googled the exact date, and it turns out we left Atlanta for Indianapolis only the month before. Narrow escape!
Wow! Thanks for correcting me. Back then we did our beach trips at The Cloister, so I was clueless about the Panhandle. Everyone here said we had it worse. NOT!

[gotothebeachmom]

All about Opal:

http://www.geocities.com/hurricanene/hurricaneopal.htm

BR, after reading your account, I was racking my brains trying to figure out how I have no memory of it. Then I googled the exact date, and it turns out we left Atlanta for Indianapolis only the month before. Narrow escape!

I worked for BellSouth in Atlanta at the time. I got a phone call at about 4:15 am on Thursday from work. I was told to come in to the office asap and have the EOC (emergency operation center) operational by 6:30 am. We had Atlanta emergency personnel rolling to Fla. when I arrived.

I spent the next 5 days in the EOC coordinating crews for local damage. We had widespread damage from high winds, at least 1 tornado, and several micro bursts. All told. We got out light compared to the panhandle. They were battered and tattered. :(

[Johnrudy]

Here's a Georgia perspective on Opal. I've heard we had it worse.

We have a reproduction of an 1830's Louisiana plantation house designed by the late Samuel Wilson, Jr., of Koch & Wilson in New Orleans. He insisted on authenticity, which included working hurricane shutters. We agreed, even though we laughed about a hurricane coming to this part of Georgia.

When we got the warnings for Opal, we decided to use them. Bottom line is that we needed them. There were large tree branches, etc., that had been hurled toward our home. The storm knocked down 40 trees in our yard, blocking our driveway (thankfully my husband had a chainsaw). We were without power for a week because a secondary power line was down, couldn't be accessed from our yard because of all of the downed trees, and our "neighbor" wouldn't allow the power company to access it from her side because she didn't want her lawn damaged. Yet she had so many trees down that her house was on the front page of the newspaper! We rented a room at the Holiday Inn and would go there just to take a warm shower. But we stayed at home where I prepared my lectures via candlelight.

It was also my provisional year in Junior League. We had scheduled our annual attic sale fundraiser for that Saturday. I'll never forget setting it up and pulling off the sale with no power. We actually had a big crowd because people were bored - no power, so you couldn't watch TV, cook meals, do laundry, run the vacuum cleaner, etc. :biggrin:

BTW it was pretty scary. I couldn't believe how noisy it was. The house shook. Thankfully our house was not damaged, even though one huge tree missed the house by inches. Our Weimaraner was forever scarred by it. From then on, whenever it even rained, she'd get scared. Once we were shopping at Lenox and when we returned, we saw blood everywhere. A thunderstorm had popped up while we were gone, and she had tried to claw her way into the house, injuring herself. Another time we had just had the house painted. A thunderstorm came up while we were gone, and she damaged all of the doors on the front gallery. So the claw marks had to be sanded down, and the doors had to be repainted. After that we put an Invisible Fence under the house so she couldn't get to the doors when it rained, and kept one garage door slightly open so she could feel safe inside.

Yes, most people have no idea that the effects of a hurricane travel so far inland. Growing up in Lower Alabama, we had many a tree (beautiful old magnolias) uprooted in our yard from un-named hurricanes or tropical storms. It was always wind and rain damage, obviously.

With Opal, tho, there had been a lot of heavy rain all across the SE for weeks. The ground was saturated, so when the winds hit, it uprooted trees for many, many miles, far from the coast line. I remember visiting my dad in Andalusia months later and was in shock to see all the trees uprooted or broken in half, like toothpicks, hundreds upon hundreds all thru the Conecuh Nat'l. Forest.

I heard the same thing too, that it was worse in Atlanta. Just totally unexpected & unprepared, I guess.

[kurt]

Describe humongous...i have tried to load pictures from my computer and it tells me it is too large. I do not know how to reduce them. Can you tell me how to do this?
BTW...if I ever figure this out you will all be in trouble! I have some great photos of a lot of locals!!!

If you'd like to resize your photos on your computer, here is a link to the world's easiest picture resizer by Microsoft. Click on it, then select run, and it will install. Once installed, all you have to do is right click on any pic file on your computer, select "Resize Pictures" and it will give you several size options - it's that easy!
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...wertoySetup.exe (http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe)

[Johnrudy]

If you'd like to resize your photos on your computer, here is a link to the world's easiest picture resizer by Microsoft. Click on it, then select run, and it will install. Once installed, all you have to do is right click on any pic file on your computer, select "Resize Pictures" and it will give you several size options - it's that easy!
http://download.microsoft.com/downl...wertoySetup.exe (http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Install/2/WXP/EN-US/ImageResizerPowertoySetup.exe)
It really is that easy too.

[Donna]

Having grown up in Walton County, I don't believe Grayton Beach has ever been quite the same since Hurricane Opal. The storm carried a 16-ft. storm surge. It stalled just out in the Gulf before making landfall, which probably resulted in it causing even less damage than it would have otherwise. But was there was plenty to go around, even so. To my memory, the dunes at Grayton have never regained either their height or mass prior to Opal. Many of the seaoats were already gone, the victims of decorator whims, alas.

The old Conch Out cottage, so named even then, was washed completely off its foundation and was not salvageable. I have always heard that it is back luck to rename a house, though and so the name remains the same. The present Conch Out, a far cry from its funky old predecessor, was built immediately after Opal and still carries the old "The Conch Out" sign, since given a face lift. Someone (you know who you are) in the area has a chest of drawers that washed down Hotz Avenue from the old Conch Out cottage. I hope you have given it a new life.

The hurricane did significant damage in DeFuniak Springs, as well. Almost every tree in the beautiful Lake DeFuniak yard was wiped out. Huge pines and oaks were snapped in half or torn out by the roots. A huge oak in my family's backyard, one I estimated to be easily 100 years old, was ripped out by the roots. It had the most beautiful wisteria vine entertwining the big oak limbs and our entire backyard would be carpeted with the lavender petals after it bloomed. I miss that tree to this day, even though the other oaks have since grown almost to its size.

Ivan was bad because we were on the NE side of the action. I hate to even contemplate what another Opal would do, though. Right now, I am giving thanks for a thus far easy storm season. Grayton Beach is a model of how nature cleans up after herself, though. Thank goodness for the State Parks folks, who prevent us from our own best intentions! :clap_1:

[southof30A]

Prior to Opal we would get to the bottom of our beach walkover and then have to walk through approx. 30' of sea oats-covered dunes on the flat part of the beach. These dunes never recovered after Opal. The vertical cliff after Opal was similar to the one after Dennis, although the beach has eroded landward an additional 60' farther than after Opal. Lots of big, foreign shells on the beach afterward.

The night before Opal hit we had dinner at Criolla's. Came home in a heavy rain. During the night the hurricane strengthened dramatically still far offshore and we were awoken by sheriff's loudspeakers driving down 30A calling for a mandatory evacuation. We evacuated to Dothan and got hit pretty hard there. Back to the beach a few days later, we found that an oceanside patio door had blown in, which pressured up the inside of our condo, ultimately blowing out one of the front bedroom windows. The ensuing wind tunnel left about 4 inches of windblown sand piled up in the dining room. Drapes, bed linens etc. were sucked out of the window. Found a 3" long wood splinter embeded in the side of our mattress. Time of impact: 5:40 PM according to our wall clock which was blown off the wall and stopped.

[laurawood]

opal was scary, very scary. I think it taught people that if a storm is coming anywhere near and is a cat 2 or higher it is better to leave and it not hit than to stay and take a chance. Dont want to end up in such a possibly bad situation. think of all the people in new orleans who stayed..........is very sad.

[Beachbummett]

I have pictures of us in the big dunes at Grayton back in 1984 they were huge! We could not afford to rent much we were still in college so we used to rent "The Retreat" does anyone remember that one? It was on the same street as Red Bar pass the condos on the right. The dunes behind the house were so big we have pictures of us from the top and it looks like we are in a canyon. I know, I know this was a long time ago and we did not know not to walk on the dunes!
Kurt if I ever figure out how to reduce my pictures (will try tonight) I will post. We also have pictures of us on the beach about were the road beside Red Bar comes to the beach the picture is taken from the water with us on the beach and there was just a couple of houses behind us!

[laurawood]

the dunes were huge...... we used to roll down them into the lake. I should dig up old pics of the beach to share.

[Beachbummett]

the dunes were huge...... we used to roll down them into the lake. I should dig up old pics of the beach to share.
:clap_1: Please do, I love to look at old pictures before everything changed. What year or years are you photos from?

[Beach Runner]

Thanks for your "inland" stories, JR and GTTBM.

I had forgotten that we cancelled classes and sent all of the students home who could go home. That was the only good part for me - a few unanticipated days of paid vacation!:D

[laurawood]

was born here in 83 however, i have pics dating back to the 70's at least. if not earlier. after opal all the high schoolers rode the big jet boat out of choctawhatchee bay to fort walton beach to go to school because the roads were out. Water transportation is never out of style.......................

[Paula]

These are fantastic stories. :clap_1: Keep them coming. This is a good place to collect and save history of SoWal. And photos! Please please please photos. These stories about Opal are both frightening and comforting. Frightening because of the damage (no stories yet about loss of human life during Opal - was there any?) and comforting because it's clear that the area (nature and people) bounce back.

[Donna]

Thanks for the feedback about the sand dunes, folks. I remembered dunes 30 ft. high or more, too but refrained from posting that for fear of exaggeration. I mean, when you're a short kid, everything looks taller and bigger, right? But I remember those dunes being extremely high, canyons within them, and covered with sea oats, like a forest. We have an etching of "The Store" on the landing at Conch Out, made from a very old photo. The sand dunes surround it and come right up to the windows and people often think it is the artist's liberty. Not so. I can remember when people had fights in "The Store," they would sometimes jump right out those windows into the dunes to finish things up. A whole new take on, "Let's take this outside!"

As for loss of life, I recall the bridge house (on the old Bay bridge) going into the drink with the bridgekeepers inside on at least two occasions. While I cannot be sure, I seem to recall that a barge hit that bridge during Opal and one of the bridgekeepers was drowned. Someone else may want to weigh in on this because I might have my storms confused.

I think that Opal made a huge difference in how SoWal residents view hurricanes. Before, there was no mandatory evacuation and I can actually remember sitting on the beaches watching hurricanes roll in, before driving home for the big event. The evacuation process down there is now very efficient and you have to consider it as to how it relates to the debacle that occurred in New Orleans and subsequently in the Houton, TX areas. Opal turned us all into veterans.

Now if someone could just say something about that chest of drawers from the old Conch Out?!? Reward offered...no questions asked. Furniture just wants to come home. :roll:

[Johnrudy]

Before, there was no mandatory evacuation and I can actually remember sitting on the beaches watching hurricanes roll in, before driving home for the big event.

I, too, remember us staying on the beach 'til the last minute and jumping in the car to drive home. One time when I was about 10, I was hanging onto one of those brown visitors info signs on the sidewalk at P'cola Beach to keep from being blown away and my dad ran up and carried me to the car. It was totally black out and the wind, sand and rain was whipping around. It was so loud we had to scream at each other. There just wasn't much early notification - just common sense, which dosen't sound like we used much of it that time!

[Franny]

was born here in 83 however, i have pics dating back to the 70's at least. if not earlier. after opal all the high schoolers rode the big jet boat out of choctawhatchee bay to fort walton beach to go to school because the roads were out. Water transportation is never out of style.......................

I remember reading about your mode of transportation in the paper and thinking how cool that must have been, but it probably got pretty old after a while. Does anyone remember the Destin Harbor? Boats stacked on top of one another five at a time...as if someone had placed them on top of one another..really bizarre! Who is the guy from LA that owns/owned all the chicken fast food? Anyway he had his first mate stay aboard his yacht during Opal docked in the harbor. This guy stayed throughout and had videos of refrigerators and furniture flying by. I believe it was CNN that showed the video on the news. Scarey times! :eek:

[Beach Runner]

I found a photo of our beach access from 2002. Only that little patch of dark green in the lower left-hand corner remains. From there it is now a vertical cliff down to sea level.

I don't have any pre-Opal photos. We hadn't discovered 30-A yet.

[beacheart]

I uploaded a pre- Opal photo from 1976 to the members photo gallery. If anyone is interested they can see it there. The Santa Rosa Beach Club is the building nearest to the camera. Hurricane Eloise came through Walton Co. the year before but I really don't know how much damage was done to the beach. Historically the large storms hit Walton Co. about every 20 years.

[bsmart]

I was in the eighth grade when Opal hit. Like Kurt said, I too remember the storm surge being much worse as compared to Ivan and Dennis. I have some pre-Ivan photos in the member's section, and will be sure to look for some others to post there as well. My mom and dad came down two days later to check on our condo at Seamist. My mom found the largest seashell which we have ever found on our many vacations to SoWal. As the storm passed over North GA, it was picked up by a low level jet, racing it northward so that it did not have much time to lose strength, and so heavy rain, tornadoes and very strong winds--80mph measured at Dobbins Air Force Base, were the story of the evening. This was quite scary and exciting all at the same time. I remember being out of school for two days, and not having electricity for just as long.

[DD]

I don't live there, but have a couple of memories of post-Opal. mr. dd's family has two houses on Okaloosa Island. Both houses were severely damaged. When his cousin went down to survey the damage, she found a Sony TV in the yard. Washed up from who knows where. She took it inside, cleaned it off and danged if the thing didn't work like a champ. Then, the following year, when we were visiting, his same cousin was there working on the other house. We were in Destin that day, and she had a seizure and fell off a ladder and hit her head on the window sill. When she came to, she staggered to the bathroom and then called 911. They took her to the hospital. When we returned, and went to look for her, there was blood EVERYWHERE. Looked like a murder scene. He raced to the hospital--she was fine. I tried to clean up all the blood, but she ended up having to re-paint some of the walls she had just painted. Then, she drove 17 hours back home! :eek:

[ShallowsNole]

My son was not quite 3, so even though we were living south of Freeport at the time, we evacuated. In context of an evacuation, "we" means my son and I - hub can't go as he is supposed to protect and serve. We went to Jacksonville, which was much too far, but we were safe. A 5 hour drive that took 12 hours. Lights were on when we returned the following evening (advantage of living just off 331!).

If we had been living where I live now: we found driftwood against the front door. That is never a good sign. Since I was tending to a baby, I had not been able to clean out my mom's house after she died. Opal made the decision on what to keep and what to trash very easy. :(

Hubby did call me from the top of the 331 bridge to alert me that I very nearly collected on his life insurance. After the wind had died down and the surge receded, he and another officer headed for SoWal. They were between the small bridge and the large bridge when the bay came BACK up over the road. :eek: They could not tell where they were in reference to the road, the bridge, the bay...fortunately the officer behind hub had a spotlight and found the reflector at the base of the bridge. Four WCSO cars stuck on the bridge until the bay went back down, but thankfully safe.

To this day, he will tell you that being in that car and not knowing if he was on the road or headed for deep water is the most frightened he has ever been in his life.

[Beachlover2]

I for one am glad we are reading these stories from over 10 years ago and not from some current storm.

This is going to be a calm season!!!!!

[Franny]

My son was not quite 3, so even though we were living south of Freeport at the time, we evacuated. In context of an evacuation, "we" means my son and I - hub can't go as he is supposed to protect and serve. We went to Jacksonville, which was much too far, but we were safe. A 5 hour drive that took 12 hours. Lights were on when we returned the following evening (advantage of living just off 331!).

If we had been living where I live now: we found driftwood against the front door. That is never a good sign. Since I was tending to a baby, I had not been able to clean out my mom's house after she died. Opal made the decision on what to keep and what to trash very easy. :(

Hubby did call me from the top of the 331 bridge to alert me that I very nearly collected on his life insurance. After the wind had died down and the surge receded, he and another officer headed for SoWal. They were between the small bridge and the large bridge when the bay came BACK up over the road. :eek: They could not tell where they were in reference to the road, the bridge, the bay...fortunately the officer behind hub had a spotlight and found the reflector at the base of the bridge. Four WCSO cars stuck on the bridge until the bay went back down, but thankfully safe.

To this day, he will tell you that being in that car and not knowing if he was on the road or headed for deep water is the most frightened he has ever been in his life.

Wow!! :eek: