Mainly what I remember about IVAN is that it only made that turn to the east at the very very last minute...causing me to worry no end about my brother in MS. If it hadn't turned it would have hit the MS/AL state line.. As it was they still got some pretty nifty winds in Pascagoula that night. Power was out but my brother called me as promised on his cell when they finally told him that it was time for all the deputies to get off the streets and find the nearest safe place to hunker down (this was just as they started getting hurricane force winds), and then he called me again around 1 or 2 am I think to let me know they were getting the high winds and what it was like.

I was monitoring the buoy info in the gulf and the next morning found the highest wave height on a buoy south of Dauphin Island. It was over 30 feet, and that is something for an area where water isn't shallow.

EDIT: I may be wrong but it seems like actually the wave height was around 50 ft.