Bronco,
You are right, it could have been much worse and I do appreciate your sentiments as I'm sure do the folks all along the Gulf coast.
I still think you were privy to some erroneous information. The
sustained winds were 100+ mph at the point of land fall near Navarre Beach, that's right,
sustained. I just read that at 70 miles inland, the sustained winds are still in the 50-60 mph range.
Pensacola did not receive such wind force as they were lucky enough to have been west of...or on the least severe side of the storm.
It is amazing as to the difference in the severity of a hurricane in regards to which side of the eye we're talking about.
Like I said earlier, I live 165 miles east of Pensacola and we had 30-35 mph sustained winds with gusts at or near 50 mph.
The other factors that lessend the damage caused by Dennis were the compactness of the storm...hurricane force winds,
75+ mph, only extended for a 40 mile radius. Also, the storm accelerated to 25 mph of forward momentum speed just before landfall, minumizing the duration of the areas exposure to the storms effects.
The area of actual landfall impact is much less population dense than Pensacola, so the damage may appear less severe. However, the cost will stil be in the millions if a billion dollars or more particularly as a result of the 15-18 foot storm surge which has been shown to cost, on average, much more monetary damage than wind related destruction. This area extends all the way to Panama City beach and beyond to the afore mentioned St. Marks (roughly 170 east of P'cola). The water just washes sand, land, dunes and houses out to sea...there's no stopping it.
All things considered, I know where you are coming from and thanks for the condolences to all of us sunshine staters.
For reference:
AP stats on Dennis
