On September 15th, 2004, Hurricane Ivan was swirling and roaring in the Gulf of Mexico, ready to unleash his deadly dance along the Florida coastline. Gale force winds sent huge waves crashing onto the white sand beaches, and Gulf residents were preparing for what might be one of the worst storms in history. Even though we knew the storm was coming, most people didn’t expect the outbreak of tornados that Ivan would produce that evening and night. In the town of Marianna, some 70 miles inland, I watched the skies, and waited.Submitted by E. Don Harpe
GREAT, GHOSTLY PALE SHEETS OF HEAVY RAIN blew out of the pitch-black darkness of the night. The wind howled, turning the rain into a battering ram that sought to throw our mini van off the pavement and into whatever waited on the shoulder of the road. First from the right then from the left, next from behind us and then from directly in front of us, the storm slammed the van, making it almost impossible to hold it on the highway.
I couldn’t see where I was driving, and even though I met a few cars, there was no way to tell which side of the road they were on, and only reflexes and steady hands kept the car from careening out of control, either into the woods on my right or into the path of an oncoming vehicle. This was one of the few times in my life when I’ve actually experienced a true “white knuckle” grip. I couldn’t see my hands on the wheel, but I had a death grip on it, and I was holding on for dear life!
Under normal circumstances I would have simply pulled over to the side of the highway and waited out the storm, but this night was anything but normal.
All I could do was drive and pray that the storm let up.Wednesday, the 15th of September, 2004 had been cloudy all day, a result of the feeder bands that were whipping across the Florida panhandle from Hurricane Ivan, a monster Atlantic storm that had ravaged the Caribbean Islands as it came roaring into the Gulf of Mexico, hell bent on continuing its devastation when it made landfall later that night.
Go to the Time-Series of Hurricane Ivan Images for a look at Ivan from space.All day I sat glued to the TV, watching the weather reports as Ivan barreled closer and closer, knowing the terrible power would go where it wanted, when it wanted, and would do what it wanted whenever it got there. The only breaks I took from the screen were to go outside and anxiously scan the skies for any sign of impending doom.
In the panhandle, the news grew grimmer by the hour. The great feeder bands that whipped counter clockwise around the storm had begun to make their presence known, and by four or five o’clock that afternoon, had already spawned dozens of tornados across the lower Florida panhandle shoreline.
