Hurricane Season Has Arrived (Arlene Info)

Bowden has family in the area. His daughter lives and works in Shalimar. Sadly, one of his grandsons (who played football for Choctaw HS) was killed in a traffic accident on I-10 last fall, along with his daughter's ex-husband.

I remember that..wasn't it around Thanksgiving? Very sad...

Goodness! I had no idea that things were so bad on 30-A. The Weather Channel certainly hasn't indicated such erosion, etc., in our area. I wish I were there to see the damage for myself. Thanx to everyone for the photos, that is, from all of you except the one whose website prevents one from using the back button to get back to the SoWal message board - GRRRR!

I'm guessing the posted "likenesses" are a reference to the coach's shape. The funny thing is that the lower/entry level of the home has an eliptical trainer and a universal gym (both very nice, athletic-center-quality units). The lower level also has a sauna and a steam shower. This fitness area is adorned with tons of the coach's accolades and celeb photos.

The rest of the home is "vacation rental" style with only a few copies of the coach's recent book on nightstands and coffee tables throughout.

The walkover from the front door to the beach looked to be recently rebuilt from last season, as were many along the beach. It is very low to the sand; hope it held up. Great place!

Back on the topic of Arlene ....

Please post more beach pics and reports when you all can. Still trying to get a feel here for what the damage is.

Pics coming - all that beach scraping turned out to be a terrible idea as I suspected. There is no sand on the beach. Ivan started it, the scraping lowered the level a couple of feet and Arlene took the rest.

If the scraping had not been done, Arlene would have been just what the Dr. ordered. Arlene and all the weather in between would have repaired the beaches. Although the dunes would have taken a couple of years of natural forces to repair themselves, they would be stronger over time.

Don't be in such a rush, don't interfere with nature.

The sheriff's patrol would not let anybody on Grayton Beach this morning. Apparently, this is due to the debris on the beach. Please let us know if there is there is going to be a clean up patrol organized in which we can participate.

Pics coming - all that beach scraping turned out to be a terrible idea as I suspected. There is no sand on the beach. Ivan started it, the scraping lowered the level a couple of feet and Arlene took the rest.

If the scraping had not been done, Arlene would have been just what the Dr. ordered. Arlene and all the weather in between would have repaired the beaches. Although the dunes would have taken a couple of years of natural forces to repair themselves, they would be stronger over time.

Don't be in such a rush, don't interfere with nature.

You may be right. The scraping shortened the beach on each pass, but I think it was a roll of the dice to see if they could get through the next season without a hit, with kick-started dunes, and let the beachfront build itself back.

Rolling the dice is bad business.

I'm afraid now we'll hear cries of "do something, do something" - louder than last fall. Talk of renourishment, etc.

Pretty soon the impatience will mean gritty brown sand dumped on the beach, and shorter beaches in the long term.

Maybe we should let the Gulf front homes wash out to see. Our views would be greatly improved, and the dunes would come back naturally. Any thoughts?

The beach scraping was a bad idea IMHO. That ugly black stuff is awful. And there were no plantings established to hold the sand in place, especially since people trampled down the dunes, not allowing any vegetation to take hold. I'm with you, Kurt - we should have let nature take care of it. And I'm sure the scraping cost all of us taxpayers a boatload of $.

Is the Andalusia walkover damaged?

Don't know the walkover to Adalusia but the road is fine...

My sister was at Seagrove during the storm, and she said she couldn't believe how high the water level was relative to the top of the dunes. Someone said that's because it was high tide. The top of the bluff where we are is 35 feet. Actually some of our neighbors say that it could never get that high. Now I'm not so sure after what my sister saw on Saturday. And Arlene wasn't even a hurricane!

Worst case scenario might be 10 foot surge and 30 foot waves.

Say it ain't so.

Re: Hurricane Season Has Arrived

Yes, smaller storms should put more sand on the beach.

We are waiting on RiverOtter, the person with the most posts other than Kurt, to purchase a place on the Beach to house the web cam, but he tells us that we may be waiting a while.

What's a post?

Even funnier is the part about me buying a gulf front house.... I'd need about 20 partners

Re: Hurricane Season Has Arrived

Even funnier is the part about me buying a gulf front house.... I'd need about 20 partners

Any takers to help RiverOtter get us a webcam?

Count me in

Re: Hurricane Season Has Arrived

What's a post?

Even funnier is the part about me buying a gulf front house.... I'd need about 20 partners

Exactly - I wouldn't have a gulf-front no matter how much $ I have. It was incredible after Ivan how hard the "first rows" were hit. The second and third rows (and back) had minimal damage.

I'd set up a webcam, but some stupid renter would probably mess it up.

I still think that we could have a greased pole contest on 'ole # 13, the flagpole on Grayton Beach, and have the winner install the battery powered remote webcam while he or she is up there. Maybe we could sell Cabo Ritas at the base of the pole to draw potential candidates.

Re: Hurricane Season Has Arrived

Any takers to help RiverOtter get us a webcam?

So far we've only got one