johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

I finally made it out to one of my favorite locations today and decided to take a look around to see the extent of damage that Hurricane Sally and associated storm surge had on Gulf Islands National Seashore in Perdido Key. The park only has vehicle access to the main parking lot and pavilion with further access by foot only. I was speechless as I walked along the remnants of what used to be a simple two lane road that runs through the small small barrier island.

I have many more photos that are more of a documentary nature as opposed to artistic, but this one caught my eye. For a bit of setup, what is left of this walkway was torn in half with the remaining portion somewhere floating around Perdido Bay/Big Lagoon. The dunes on either side were around 5-6 feet high and a width of a 100 or so yards. Those dunes are now non-existent with nothing but flat terrain all the way down to Big Lagoon.

Although there are now many new opportunities for photography it really adds gravity to how much power comes with these storm systems.

All comments and suggestions are welcomed as usual.



The Aftermath by Tony H, on Flickr

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Wow.
There's a lot of power in water.

joecichjr Loc: Chicago S. Suburbs, Illinois, USA

Nicely taken shot of the damage

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

And this was the Leeward side of the dune structures!! I have some snapshots I'm still processing of the windward side with 10-12 dunes missing for hundreds of yards. But yes, storm surge is a pretty nasty thing.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Thanks Joe, I appreciate you taking time to look and comment!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Here ya go LS.

Not one of my best compositions, but I saw this couple walking by one small section of dunes on the windward side (Gulf of Mexico) and thought it would be a great scale to see how much erosion occurred.

The guy was my height around 6'1, so you figure those dunes were upwards of 10ft or more. Pretty much the entire length of the beach was flattened except a couple small chunks like this.

(Download)

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

Wow, lots of sand moved!
I've been through a bunch of hurricanes, but inland (just north of Orlando, FL).
I can PM you a couple of shots of what Charlie did on my street in 2004 if you like.
It was the worst that I've been through in 27 years there. It took out seemingly half the trees in Central Florida. The eye passed within maybe two miles of my place, of course at 10:00 at night.
MUCH power in those things and they "rearrange" so much stuff.
I have a lot of respect for them!

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Yeah, those photos would be interesting to see. I grew up in Jacksonville and there were some nasty hurricanes that went through central Florida. Luckily we didn't see much in Jax, but when I was a kid, my dad was stationed in Bermuda and we hunkered down through 2 hurricanes while we were there.

Luckily Sally didn't really do much to my neighborhood apart from minor roof damage and a lot of fences down. The worst part was the week of no power and living off of a generator (greatest emergency equipment I've ever bought...lol). We (including Perdido Key) sat in Sally's eye wall (not the eye) for about 6 hours as she shifted right before moving north. All in all the beaches took the most damage and I'm glad I invested in property a little further north along Perdido Bay in a fairly elevated area. The most we lost was some tiles and a 1,000lb gazebo that took flight across the yard.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Dramatic capture, Tony! Sorry about the damage that created it.

johngault007 Loc: Florida Panhandle

Thanks for the kind words Mike.

It's just the natural world. The great thing is that it will recover with a little help from the NPS

Rathyatra Loc: Southport, United Kingdom

Sad scene - but beautifully captured.

nervous2 Loc: Provo, Utah

Your shot is definitely a keeper!

Irvingite Charles Loc: Irving, Tx

yssirk123 Loc: New Jersey

Nicely captured!