I was looking for messages about VictorM who lives in Marianna. I know the area was damaged severely and hope they were ok.
I was looking for messages about VictorM who lives in Marianna. I know the area was damaged severely and hope they were ok.
I heard from VictorM in Marianna and he had major damage but he and family are ok. He said there is a roof over his head but many other issues with property.
At least he has a roof, good for him and his family. The tornadic like destruction from this hurricane is something I’ll never forget. It’s very hard for me to complain about anything seeing these pictures!
2006 Triton SP-185, 2006 Evinrude Etec 90, PowerTech NRS3, Garmin Echomap Plus 73CV & 93SV
Dothan, AL to the north of Marianna also had damage. It was winds on the backside of the hurricane that got'tem from the northly direction.
I live near of Marianna and drove this morning from 20 miles west of Marianna to about 50 miles to the east of there. The worst damage is from about ten miles west to twenty miles or so west of Marianna to about the Apaachicola River twenty miles to the east and it is very bad. I was on I10 so I saw none of downtown but from what I saw it has to be very bad. What I could see was thousands of acres of pine three which is a big source of income around her, that were almost totally flattened. They are so damaged there is no way to even get in to harvest the few that are left. The only solution I see is to try and bulldoze a fire lane and burn them. I doubt anyone had crop insurance on them even if it can be had. The houses and outbuilding I could see almost all were obviously damaged. Trees crashing into houses did much more damage that wind in most instances I saw.
As bad as Marianna is Mexico Beach is much worse, the pictures and videos I have seen look like Homestead after Andrew.
I grew up in Santa Rosa Bch, Sandestin area,How bad does that area look ?Originally Posted by Champriders
First my apologies for the long winded update for you guys.. Us a a people in this area feel as though through this devidtation we have been forgotten.. Seems that we aren't the great tourist destination that earns many networks and news outlets their ratings.. truly sad.. with that off my chest on with the update..
Concerning our area from about Chipley east to around the Chattahoochee/Applachicola River area of the inland Panhandle took a devastating hit from Hurricane Micheal.. The city of Marianna area as most know it will never look or be the same..especially the downtown area. Lots of business and historic building were totally destroyed leaving only twisted metal and piles of rubble .. As a norm with hurricanes you generally just don't see the level of damage and devastation we have experienced 50 miles inland.. however this hurricane was an entirely different beast.. In my many years in Law Enforcement I worked in the middle of several other hurricanes including Opal in 1995 that came in as a high CAT3 .. I can personally testify that this storm made Opal look like a summer's breeze.. Even this far inland we had sustained winds of 150mph with gust hitting the 185mph range.. I yet to come up with words to describe it..
The area where I live is actually about half way between the towns of Marianna and Chipley.. I promise you couldn't have done more carnage in this area with a full blown military bombing campaign .. Many have said this level of damage had to have been caused by tornados.. but it simply isn't the case.. We were just unfortunate to be caught in the edge of the eyewall... Evidence of that fact reaches as far as one can see as every fallen tree .. or object was fallen in an almost direct North to South direction.. With tornado damage debris fields are scattered in multi directional patterns..
As for me and my family we were blessed enough the roof on our house stayed in tact but we do have some leaks I'm having to deal with.. I did lose the roof areas over both the back patio and my attached carport. They were literally ripped to shreds with some pieces found more than a block away.. further we lost every single standing tree on the property..All were either snapped in half or uprooted and laid over.. My outbuildings were also both destroyed and are total losses as well as most of their contents.. However all of these things are small in the grand scheme of things and can and will be fixed or replaced in time.. The important thing is that we survived..Sadly 3 people in our small community did not.. All killed by either falling trees or hit by debris as their homes were destroyed..
I feel extremely fortunate at this time to still have a home and a roof over our heads as so many in the area around me lost their entire homes to either falling trees or to the powerful winds.. We have many displaced families with some living in tents to try and protect what little they have left.. and some simply because they have no other means..
The electricity at our home was temporarily restored two days ago.. but was told by the teams working to restore the grid to expect more outages over the next several days..Sadly I can't even bring myself to be excited about it because I know that there are many in my area who are still looking at a minimum of 30 days out before they will have any utilities restored due to the massive amount of destruction to the power grid it's self.. In Jackson county area alone more than 60% of the utility poles were taken down by the storm.. Many of those snapped like twigs by the sheer power of the winds..Utility crews are working dawn to dark to try and get new poles up and new power lines strung.. It's going to take a lot of time to get back to anything resembling normalcy for all effected by this powerful storm.. Right now though the basics of food.. water.. and housing are front and center for everyone .. even something as simple as ice is almost a luxury item for many.. Loads of people in our area are still counting on MRE's and bottled water for the very survival of their families..
At some point all will return to a new normal as the old normal will never be again.. I'm hopeful many lessons will be learned from such a tragic event..
Thank You Victor for that detailed account of the damage, and my family’s prayers go out to your entire community. I’ve spent a good amount of time in that area, mainly hunting when I was younger and I loved the “old” historic feel of Chipley and the surrounding areas.
I think you’re 100% right unfortunately; if Michael had hit the Tampa Bay Area it would be on the news continuously. Unfortunately I haven’t seen much damage on tv let alone an official death toll. The next topic came up and the media moved on. I’m sure it is still rising as so many people are missing but it’s sad. I may hate Pine trees because they’re loud to climb and I always get chiggers but I know that those trees pay the taxes on so much property in that area.
I’m sorry for your loss, but thankful you still have a home. I sincerely hope the State of Florida steps up and rebuilds this area because 1) its the right thing to do 2) the residents of the area deserve it and 3) that area hasn’t been molested by “progress” like so much of this state has. It was truly a piece of old Florida. Yes, I know most will roll their eyes at the State of Florida part, but that’s what our government is supposed to do.
I hope you, your neighbors and the entire Big Bend area can start the long process of rebuilding.
2006 Triton SP-185, 2006 Evinrude Etec 90, PowerTech NRS3, Garmin Echomap Plus 73CV & 93SV
Glad you're ok Victor! Prayers for your family and community..
VictorM..................my att internet has been down for 2 weeks and they finally got me back on line. It is good to read your post and I pray everything will work for you and family in a positive way. Marianna is my home town, born in the 40's and lived there into the late mid 50's before I moved to Pensacola. I would return to Marianna almost every weekend for years. All of my family were law enforcement but most retired now and just a few cousins with highway patrol, sheriff and city police.
I have seen many pictures of devastation in the county and it makes a persons heart heavy with sad emotions. My relatives and friends told me to not come up because there are too many people in the way of organized groups that have professional skills to assist with the recovery.
Best of luck. Bill
I grew up in Santa Rosa Bch, Sandestin area,How bad does that area look ?
Sorry to be late with my reply. I had to go to Destin yesterday and I saw no damage at all. It seems that Panama City got blasted but Panama City Beach and westward got very little so I am pretty sure Santa Rosa is undamaged.
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