Hello All, I am back on via laptop and wireless modem.
Power is out and cable is dead.
We are located at the entrance to Tiger Point Country Club just east of Gulf Breeze. My House is within an 1/8th of a mile of the southern end of the Garcon Point Bridge. Eyewall hit with severe winds out of the NNE. I was here for Ivan and my area had stronger winds today... thankfully, for a much shorter time. Leading eyewall lasted approximately 40 -45 minutes and we had excessive tree damage. I was surprised at the number of trees downed in the Tiger Point area. We had roughly 15 minutes in the eye... absolute calm, but no blue skies like in Erin. Trailing edge was very short lived, 20 minutes, and winds were much less 70 - 75. There are homes and businesses in our area that are completely blown apart. Majority of structures faired well, but apparently some were very weak to the NE exposure and they failed. Surge was nothing compared to Ivan. Water pushed two to three blocks north of Santa Rosa Sound in the lower areas. Damage is a fraction of what Ivan did to this area. That being said, the wind speeds definitely seemed much greater than that of Ivan at his peak. Of course, it is easier to see the impact in daylight and I fell asleep at Ivan's peak. In our short recon trip we saw several businesses that were completely destroyed but for the most part I think we dodged a bullet. Iapologize if I have not posted this in the right section. Hopefully someone will paste it to were it should be.