Hurricane Michael Stories, part two

There have been so many news stories about Hurricane Michael, the amount of damage that occurred not only from the winds but the storm surge as well.  There are entire forests, where not one tree survived, all were knocked down by the wind.  Communities like Mexico Beach which were almost totally wiped out by the combination wind and storm surge, from a Category 5 hurricane, (which initially was reported as a Category 4 hurricane,  one mile, one mile!, shy of a Category 5 storm.)  The instruments that were used to record the storm were actually blown away, and were recovered later on.    

Many other communities were battered and bruised by the storm as well.  We were on the right side of the storm which made landfall about 50 miles from us, and usually that's the bad side. 

Our main roadway is Highway 98 which runs alongside a usually well behaved Gulf of Mexico, but not this time. 

I'm sharing pictures I took, two days after the storm, when traffic was limited to property owners only. These pictures are but a small example of the incredible power of a storm surge.  

Workers assessing the damage.

 This is a culvert, under the highway.  

 

 And then there is this.  A house, sitting right on the water, and now a pile of rubble.  I took pictures of it coming from each direction.

I circled the 'house' or rather the pile of rubble left from its collapse.

Coming from the other direction, here are utility or FDOT workers assessing. 

And KUDO's, hats off and everything good to say about FDOT and the fact that a couple of days after I took these pictures, the road was patched and usable.  

We passed many large trucks that day, some hauling bulldozers, other bucket trucks, etc. and I have to say, I wouldn't have wanted to be driving one of those trucks along this damaged roadway.   A friend counted 31 washouts/patched pieces of road in just a 30 mile stretch.  

I've got lots more pictures and I'll be posting them in the next few days.