Re: CNN had a helicopter over Mexico Beach and the damage is catastrophic, like from Katrina
Posted by Chris in Tampa on 10/13/2018, 8:07 pm
The area where there is only a foundation left, and little to no debris, was surge. In some areas of Mexico Beach, you can see that a few blocks inland. Whether the wind damaged the structure some first, perhaps knocking a home off its stilts so the surge could get it, is probably impossible to know. You could see some condos in Mexico Beach that had roofs ripped off that were several stories high, so that was wind, but as for the first or even perhaps the second floor, there's likely surge. This is where the next nightmare comes in that I can't imagine, arguing with your insurance company, perhaps for years, over whether it was wind or water.

In some of the satellite imagery you can kind of see where the water likely was, certainly when you have a boat moved inland, but also from the debris line where the water pushed debris to a certain point and then when the water receded some of the debris was left. In some areas it's just hard to tell, there's just simply debris everywhere.

You can see Mexico Beach damage from the NOAA Remote Sensing Division here:
https://storms.ngs.noaa.gov/storms/michael/index.html
They have photographed some areas well inland now too.

Given the vast swath of land impacted, most of the damage was wind related in Florida, as the surge was limited to the coastal areas. But within a few blocks of the water, perhaps further in some areas, it was like Katrina. Katrina's surge impacted a whole lot more, but for that area directly at the coast for this storm, it was like Katrina. It was good that there isn't development on the barrier islands in front of Tyndall AFB. Imagine if there was development all long that massive stretch of barrier islands where there is nothing.
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CNN had a helicopter over Mexico Beach and the damage is catastrophic, like from Katrina - Chris in Tampa, 10/11/2018, 10:12 am
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