Well, I finally have returned from my weeklong trip to Alabama. Son played in a golf tournament there. It was very nice. We took Thursday 7/7 to drive to Pensacola Beach to see how the recovery was going from Hurricane Ivan from last fall. Well...It still looked like a bomb had gone off. I could not believe how badly it still looked in many places. This beach is about 4 city blocks wide. That's it. Some of the 3rd row homes probably didn't have any insurance since the home is still sitting there in shambles. Just this pile of rubble. Other lots have been cleared and remain empty. Other homes were in the process of repair. There were even huge ocean front (multi-million dollar) homes which still remain unrepaired. A few homes were rebuilt and finished. It was so so so sad. The kids and I were looking at some of the stuff burried in the sand. We found pieces of broken china, clothes and even Christmas ornaments. My 18 yr old son was actually very moved by this experience. And now to know that these people are having to deal with more loss, it is just so sad for us. We saw people living in travel trailors in their driveways while their home was under repair. They had water hooked up by fire hoses and generators for power. Now they had to pack up and leave again not knowing what they will come back to.
I see on the news that this beach didn't have the water surge that they had from Ivan since they were on the West side of the storm. Wow.......that could be such a blessing. Last time the streets were 3feet deep in sand. Today, the weather channel guy was standing on the main road and it was sand free. If they would have recovered MORE from last years storm, maybe this storm wouldn't have been so bad. My heart and prayers go out to these people. I pray that they all left and everyone is safe.
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