Ivan's Aftermath

Ivan wasn't nearly as bad as expected, at least in S.E. Alabama. Opal in 1995 was much worse. I saw very few trees down with Ivan. Opal blew trees over everywhere. Ivan mostly just left small limbs on the ground. We were told to expect 80 or 90 m.p.h. winds in Barbour County, but I doubt they got over 50 m.p.h. Rain was heavy, but brief. I don't think there was any flooding.

In Louisville, we lost power from midnight Wed. until 2:00 p.m. Thursday, then again from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Thursday. It's been on since then. The wind stopped Thursday evening. Our power loss was due to a small limb which fell on top of a transformer in front of my house. I watched it pop and spark. I think it reset itself later, as I never saw a power company truck come to replace it. The wind was barely blowing when that perfectly-placed little limb knocked out the power.

I saw very little damage between Louisville and Montgomery. A few trees down, and a few big highway signs bent (but only the ones made to break off when something hits them). All in all, Ivan simply didn't live up to its fearsome billing on this side of the state. I hope the western side of the state was as fortunate.