Talk:Hurricane Opal

Peak Rainfall in Alabama??

I highly doubt 8 inches in Evergreen was the maximum for the state of Alabama. I lived in Andalusia, Alabama (30 miles east of Evergreen) when Opal came roaring through. I distinctly remember our city's rain gage registering over 16 inches of rainfall. The rainfall chart on this page backs up my claim, as Andalusia lies inside the 15+ inches border (purple) in south central Alabama, plus the creek that flows about a quarter-mile from the edge of my back yard, was in our back yard that night-- that doesn't happen with only 8 inches of rainfall. Though if you are only considering actual NOAA weather stations, Evergreen is the only one in this part of the state, and was the closest NOAA weather site to Opal. Andalusia sustained a direct hit by the eastern eyewall, while Evergreen passed through the dry, western side of the storm relatively scott-free. The weather stations are too sparsely populated in south Alabama to get an accurate account of maximum rain totals for the whole area.

Likewise with wind speeds. I Highly doubt 90 mph was the peak sustained wind-- Ft. Rucker is another 45 miles east of Andalusia, and like Evergreen, was relatively unscathed-- and totally untouched by the eyewall winds. It's highly unlikely that the top wind speed was felt in Ft. Rucker. Our anemometer broke at 118mph, though it might have been a gust.

About the evacuaton: It was an extreme debacle. I saw pictures in the news paper about a week or so later showing Interstate 65 packed with cars in the middle of the storm. People had to ride out the storm in their car-- some were even driving north in the south-bound lanes. The day before landfall in Andalusia, we weren't even able to get the last bit of our non-essential supplies ourselves because the traffic on our bypass was at a standstill, and we couldn't get to Walmart. Our sister city, Opp, reported the same phenomenon.

If you want to ask any questions about it, give me an e-mail at messickc@gmail.com 74.181.44.227 (talk) 05:14, 20 December 2007 (UTC)Christopher Messick, Opal Survivor.

Indeed, I believe your suspicions. This site confirms a rainfall maxima of 19.42 inches in Alabama, so the article may not be entirely accurate in regarding those maxima statements. --Hurricanehink (talk) 05:17, 20 December 2007 (UTC)

Todo

References, more impact, better structure. Jdorje 21:57, 11 January 2006 (UTC)

low pressure

919mb was the lowest ever recorded in a non cat 5 system? Gloria had that same pressure. It doesn't even mention Gloria. I'm on it. Cyclone1 14:23, 25 February 2006 (UTC)

Actually, I changed the article to represent that the NHC says. Opal actually made it down to 916, so that makes Opal #1. Hurricanehink 12:41, 22 March 2006 (UTC)

evacuation

On Dr. Jeff Masters web log, it is mentioned that "The evacuation for Hurricane Opal in 1995 was a debacle, with thousands of people stranded on highways as the hurricane struck." It would be nice to have something about this in the article. TimL 18:42, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Here's a good link describing the evacuation. Hurricanehink (talk) 18:49, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Also, this should be mentioned. Hurricanehink (talk) 18:50, 5 June 2006 (UTC)

Improvement

I improved Opal a little. I added much to the impact and storm history as well as a few references. I improved the intro too. Still a B class? (probably) →Cyclone1→ 04:42, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

For a storm of this calibur, I don't think it is even a B class. There's no inline sourcing, the sections are fairly small, and there's not even a preparations or aftermath section. Hurricanehink (talk) 14:03, 23 June 2006 (UTC)

I've downgraded it to Start-class; it is way too short and there is too little in the Impact section, plus too few references. CrazyC83 17:45, 10 November 2006 (UTC)

• Sterling, VA NWS report on Opal - this could probably be used. Hurricanehink (talk) 16:15, 28 May 2007 (UTC)

Lots of information and inline sources have been added. Perhaps subsidiary impact articles could be added as has been suggested. Given the extensive amount of information compiled neatly and concisely with inline referencing, I'm upgrading this article to B-Class. -- §HurricaneERICarchive 01:13, 26 January 2008 (UTC)

References 19 thru 21 are no longer working. —Preceding unsigned comment added by WMcCannon (talk • contribs) 21:21, 25 May 2009 (UTC)

Deaths / Damages

Total Deaths - 63

• Mexico - 19
• Guatemala - 31
• United States - 13
  • Alabama - 2
  • Florida - 1
  • Georgia - 8
  • North Carolina - 2

Total Damage - >$3,557,756,000

• Mexico - >$100,000,000
  • Campeche - >$100,000,000

• United States - $3,457,756,000
  • Alabama - $192,120,000
  • Florida - $3,109,942,000
  • Georgia - $131,200,000
  • Louisiana - $200,000
  • Maryland - $5,268,000
  • Michigan - $15,000
  • Mississippi - $75,000
  • New York - $60,000
  • North Carolina - $16,018,000
  • Ohio - $298,000
  • Pennsylvania - $30,000
  • South Carolina - $112,000
  • Tennessee - $2,020,000
  • Vermont - $135,000
  • Virginia - $258,000
  • West Virginia - $5,000

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