Yes, Chris, we lost power, water (due to a main break just before the storm hit), internet, landline phone, and cable TV. It was not fun. The night of the storm was especially terrifying, largely because (aside from the pounding rain and screaming winds), with all shutters closed I couldn't tell whether or not the surge was ending up worse than predicted; I was very worried about our vehicles parked in the garage below the house. Besides potentially being ruined, I pictured them floating and banging into the pilings and/or taking out the walls. I didn't sleep - had to take deep breaths and think pretty thoughts all night to keep from stressing out completely.
Amazingly enough, though we had a lake in our backyard in the morning due apparently to the unrelenting torrential rains over two days, our garage was bone dry. We were very, very fortunate, based on the discarded carpet and sheet rock and other debris we're seeing all over the island. We sustained only some non-catastrophic roof damage: blown away chimney cap, a few missing ridge vent shingles, a partially broken plumbing vent-through. The latter caused a serious leak in the guest bedroom - we've been able to dry out the mattress and bedding but the ceiling may need to be replaced.
Still in all, we will absorb repair costs rather than involve our windstorm insurer, due to a very high hurricane deductible.
We did lose some but not all of our food in the freezer and fridge, thanks to freezer packs and keeping the doors closed.
Won't bore you with further details including how hard it has been to get repair help. Suffice it to say the chimney was tarped a week ago, but that contractor, who was to return to caulk the vent and replace ridge vent shingles, seems to have better things to do.
Still, all this is nothing like Cat. 3 Hurricane Ivan; after that, we can deal with a whole lot, though our increasing age doesn't help (as Alligator Pointer understands - BTW thanks AP for your concern). My husband, for instance, is pretty unhappy at no longer having reliable enough balance to brave the roof himself as he would've done in the past. So we keep fingers crossed for no more heavy rains until we can get the repairs done by others.
Aside from three deaths in the immediate surrounding area, the worst tragedy of this storm was the ruination of the just-completed southbound span of the Three Mile Bridge across Pensacola Bay, connecting the Gulf Breeze peninsula (just to our north) and the City of Pensacola (on the mainland), due to the bridge contractor's many barges having broken loose during the storm and rammed into the bridge time after time. About 30 bridge sections were damaged, five to seven of those beyond repair. The bridge is completely impassable for the foreseeable future.
Here's some drone footage to give you a feel for how horrific the bridge damage was, if you're interested:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX5FABK9QmQ
This southbound span of this $380 million bridge project was being utilized for both south and northbound traffic while the northbound span was under construction, not very far along. The next closest bridge to the mainland is a two-laner, miles away in the opposite direction, and the traffic on that span at rush hours is making a reasonable commute nearly impossible. The disruption to commerce and people's lives and livelihoods is inestimable. There is as of yet no timeline for repair but if I had to guess I'd say at least a year - IMHO they'd almost be better off putting all resources 24-7 toward finishing the second span, which was due for completion late 2021.
The idea of ferries is being bandied about by local officials, but that will be FAR from a satisfactory substitute, as you may imagine.
The much smaller bridge between Pensacola Beach's barrier island and the Gulf Breeze peninsula also sustained damage, mostly due to land erosion at the approaches. One side is being utilized for two-way traffic during repairs - at least it's passable.
Speaking of livelihoods, after the economic devastation of the coronavirus pandemic, this additional huge blow to the local tourism industry, with the loss of the Three Mile Bridge, will likely put a lot of enterprises on both Pensacola Beach and in Gulf Breeze out of business. In that respect, I'm afraid this may prove worse than both Hurricane Ivan and the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil "spill" combined.
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