CNN reports from helicopter over Mexico Beach, FL

[mcar]

The video is heartbreaking. It's gone. The whole town is gone. Little left but a some damaged structures and rubble. Homes obliterated down to the concrete foundation.

I lived through Andrew and I have never seen anything like this.

I sure as hell hope the residents evacuated.

https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2018/10/11/brooke-baldwin-hurricane-michael-damage-helicopter-view-vpx.cnn/video/playlists/hurricane-michael/

[sheshe2]

1. I am watching that now.

Dear God, there is nothing left. I too hope they evacuated.

[mcar]

3. There's not even much debris at the destroyed homesites

It must have blown somewhere else. I cannot imagine this. Another shift to the east before it made landfall and we could have been in the thick of it.

[sheshe2]

6. Glad you are safe mcar.

[mcar]

8. Thanks she

I fear for the people there. What devastation!

[bdamomma]

21. glad you are safe

between the political climate and climate change we are in a battle for our lives.

[mcar]

24. Thank you

[H2O Man]

2. Heartbreaking.

Thanks for posting this. Recommended.

[meadowlark5]

4. I can't even believe how destroyed it all is

Amazing how some homes and buildings are still standing where everything is leveled around it. I see that with tornadoes but didn't know that was possible with hurricanes.

[Botany]

5. Much of the damage could be from the storm surge .... a 5' surge is like millions of tons of water .

.... hitting the buildings.

Link to tweet

[meadowlark5]

7. Oh.. they were talking so much about the almost 140mph winds yesterday, I was thinking that was it

I'm sure that was a huge part but yes, the power of the storm surge

I hope those people got out.

[BigGermanGuy]

14. here in pa

a "surge" of about 2 feet from a flooding river took out my iron fence, footings and all, and wiped out 3 peoples houses. just picked them up off the foundation and boom, gone.

I can't imagine a 13 foot surge.

[Botany]

19. I went to a talk once by an ecologist and he showed pictures of a stone jetty ....

.... that was built out from the beach about 200' out into the ocean. They
made the jetty to stop a current that ran parallel to the beach and was always
taking the sand from the rich person's private beach. It was made out of massive
pieces of rock all of them > 1/2 a ton and for a while it worked but they had a
hurricane and the ocean decided to "fix" the jetty and in the after pictures you could
not find one rock.

Your little 2' surge had some real weight and energy behind it. Water weighs 8 lbs
per gallon and how many thousands of gallons of water was in that surge.

[BigGermanGuy]

23. oh i know, it's amazing

the force of water.

hell, ocean city md's bay was formed in a single hurricane. prior to that it was connected to assateague and boats had many miles to go around to enter the bay.

[mcar]

9. They're saying any building built before a certain time wasn't up to current code

Some of them were, I guess. Also, it seems like it was more a tornado effect - at least that's what it looks like in Panama City Beach.

[malaise]

10. This man lost everything

His voice is shaking.

[boston bean]

11. Sure he is kicking himself in the ass for staying!!

[malaise]

20. One watched their neighbor and his house head into the sea

There are no words for this

[sarcasmo]

12. These storms are the new normal. Inland migration is necessary.

[Lisa0825]

13. Reminds me of Bolivar after Ike :-(

[James48]

15. I do NOT want my tax dollars used to rebuild that.

Sorry, but if you are located within 25 feet of sea level, you should not be permitted to build a home or business, unless YOU CAN PAY CASH for it, and then, you should be required to sign a form saying you will not make ANY CLAIM on taxpayers at any time.


I'm tired of these coastal folks not understanding that they cannot build in the flood area. Period. And then paying less than actual value into a nationally sponsored flood insurance program, that needs outside tax contributions in order to survive.


YES, SEA LEVELS ARE RISING.

NO, WE ARE NOT GOING TO CONTINUE TO PAY, and then REPAY , and then REPAY to keep rebuilding.

I'm tired of every year having a "hundred year storm".

[greymattermom]

26. My sister has a house only about 18 feet above sea level.

Her flood insurance went down last year, even though last year's hurricane flooded houses only 3 houses down the street from her. My cousin had a house that was completely destroyed by a hurricane. They took the money and walked away. Why do insurance companies even insure those properties?

[genxlib]

16. Hurricane Katrina did this to Mississippi too

New Orleans was the big story so many people don't realize how badly the coast of Mississippi got hit. I was there for two weeks on Search and Rescue after the storm.

A 27' storm surge just wiped out blocks of buildings along the coast. The Gulf is particularly vulnerable to it due to the shape and depth. And as stated upthread, the water can do a lot more damage due to its weight and momentum.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Effects_of_Hurricane_Katrina_in_Mississippi#/media/File:Hurricane_katrina_damage_gulfport_mississippi.jpg

I lived through Andrew as well and spent a lot of time inspecting damage after the fact. This looks a lot like that.

At least the Gulf Coast is relatively low population compared to other parts of the State. If that were to happen in Miami Beach or Fort Lauderdale, it would impact magnitudes more people. Even as bad as Andrew was, it would have been 10x worse if it had been a little farther north.

[Scarsdale]

17. So, when is

tRumps next rally and fund raiser? He can promise the people to help them rebuild, after his good buddies get their tax breaks of course.

[bdamomma]

22. he has no

empathy for people, what is he going to do give out hot dogs and paper towels, it doesn't affect him so he just does not care.

[brooklynite]

18. Time for the Government to subsidize water-side reconstruction, right?

[mcar]

25. There's got to be some semblance of sense now

Rebuilding all those properties makes no sense.

[peacebuzzard]

27. Dear God, I wish safety to people and animals in this disaster

Terrifying scene.

[mcar]

28. Yes

I hope people left, with their pets.