Initial reports...keep in mind that these aren't first-hand...are that the Fort Walton Beach/Mary Esther area fared somewhat better than they did during Ivan. However, I think that to some degree this may be misleading. After all, Ivan basically stripped the older trees and structures just ten months ago, so I think that it's fair to say that potential projectiles were much fewer (relatively speaking) this time around. Had Ivan missed this area last year, the effects of Dennis would probably have been much worse. No word on storm surge in the area.