Hurricane Opal - Fort Walton Beach, FL - October 4, 1995

[poodtang1]

The last place you wan't to be when the shit hit's the fan > traffic jam

[jayjjj3]

I was born during this hurricane.

[CycloneJosh]

Cool footage-- that eyewall looks ferocious. People tend to downplay Opal a little because it weakened a bit before landfall-- but this footage shows it was still a monster when it came ashore.

[vmax135]

@CycloneJosh Thank you, Josh!!! I can't believe I somehow missed your comment...lol. Anyway, yeah... even though it was weakening, Opal was absolutely a significant hurricane at landfall. Still one of the highest surge events I've been in. I can only imagine what it would have been like if it had come onshore at peak intensity.

[veronica51able]

How long do hurricanes last? I live in Cali but I'm moving to Alabama to see one of their worst storms but this came up so I watched it

[kgarland2007]

I was in 9th grade when Opal hit. It wasn't bad in Thomasville, GA, but school was closed that day. It sucked that we lost one of our Spring Break days to make up for it.

[hoernchen50]

Whew!! We got stranded in this hurricane on way to AZ. We almost didn't make it out alive. We had guardian angels surround us that day for sure!! I get the chills watching this video. Brings back real bad memories. Thanks for posting though. I didn't realize it was sooo bad back then. Now I really want to throw up, all these years later.

[ObviouslyISuck]

i was 4 years old and i was here during this on the air force base there

[bob42ful]

i was hit by this when i lived in florida i lived in mossyhead

[JaKEtuRbo2]

best VIDEO ON YOUTUBE ABSOLUTY AWESOME! I LOVE HOW YOU FILM BEFORE DURING AND AFTER WITH AWESOME FOOTAGE NO BULLSHIT, JUST GREAT cOVERAGE! WELL DONE!

[denisespurlock]

Wow.  I think I will remain being bored in Indiana.

[Stormy200929]

and living in Pensacola Beach

[Stormy200929]

i was 5 when Opal hit i remember it though

[DannyLovesOregon]

I left Niceville (Me and mu folks) have to be in Tallahassee for safety its a disaster going on

[aass572]

Me and my friends rode this out right up the street from the days in in video called the dolphin inn.

[Indy1489]

Dang I remember living in Okaloosa County when that hit. It was an amazing experience even though I was 6 years old at the time.

[sports2mj]

This has to be the best footage of Opal I have ever seen! I still remember this like it was yesterday. I was 11 at the time and my family evacuated to Dothan, Alabama. Even though our house is on the bay (Walton County), we had no flooding and minimal damage. Our condo on Holiday Isle, though, was a different story. It is on the first floor, so it was completely destroyed. When I explain to people about Destin, I always say that after Opal hit, it never quit rebuilding.

[JerseyShore117]

What does that kinda wind feel like?

[ItsMarikaduh89]

very hard WINDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[JerseyShore117]

@ItsMarikaduh89 no duh

[BrianFalconsFan29]

Brave man i would need some hydrocodone before doing this

[usukker]

what huricane is strongest?

[BrianFalconsFan29]

@usukker catagory 4 and 5 are the strongest 5 being the strongest

[usukker]

@BrianFalconsFan29 wow is there category 5 too :O omg. ok thanks

[HairMetalBabe]

Even though I was young when it happened, I still remember it. I give Opal credit to my weather obsession.

[thenatester45]

I know some people that live in auburn AL. and even though its inland they said they had sustaned winds of 65 mph

[chug26]

is 10:30 the eye?

[DoubleVisionandco]

It`s hard for me to watch this video, even so it`s excellant. Opal timed it out perfectly when she found us in central Alabama, she hit right at nightfall. We lost everything, and it was one of the most traumatic experiences in my life. Tree`s were uprooted, debris flew everywhere, the rain fell hard. The wind screamed like released demons out of hell. Opal was the meanest, nastiest and deadliest bitch I ever met. I`m not scared of much, but I`m terrorfied of hurricanes. Opal taught me that.

[miichael91]

Seriously? I thought this was a cat 4 or 5 at landfall? :O

[pippen8]

I'm somewhere in that traffic heading east to Tallahasee. Took me 10 hours to get from Eglin to Tallahasee.

[NCCNeon]

Great video! I think people who have never ridden out a hurricane don't realize this goes on, and on, and on for hours ... seems like it will never end.

[yourehot1028]

Hurricane opal came through in 95, the same year my grandmother "Opal" died.

It sustained its winds all the way up to North alamaba and she was from Central Alabama. It passed through the area where she lived.

[VLombardi01]

Thats crazy to be outside during that!

[09SRILANKA]

Did anyone see my wife she was flying a kits only five minutes ago?

[mrswartz]

i miss the 90s, 80s even more

[DoubleDutchBust]

7:25am Sunday (EDT) - Time in Tallahassee, Florida

Pensacola  6:25am CDT

Florida, South Africa 1:25pm SAST

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

Another AMAZING video Michael!! Man I wish I was about 20 years older so I could have chased Hugo, Andrew, & Opal... I'm already starting to get anxious/excited for hurricane season to start! It looks to me that this season will pick up big time with a dying El Nino... Also, where the warmest waters are forecasted in the Gulf and Caribbean is typically only trouble with the way the shear should relax this year! If the blocking can hold west we should see a lot more landfalling hurricanes!

[vmax135]

Thanks so much, Greg!!! I can't wait for the season to get going as well. I agree, besides the ENSO forecast to be in a neutral phase by summer, we already have impressive positive SST anomalies over the MDR... and the average surface pressures are forecast to be below normal. So all signs are currently pointing to a active season.

[MrKeyboardcrazy]

@LDCTSTORMCHASER Hey I gotta say I am excited as well! I don't want anyone's property damaged or anyone hurt but it is interesting to see these things come ashore the way they do. Greetings from Ft. Walton! I was here in '95, although I was only 5. I still remember it for sure!

[LDCTSTORMCHASER]

@MrKeyboardcrazy I agree completely! I never want to see anyone's property damaged or worse anyone hurt/killed.... But I am excited about the upcoming hurricane season! We should be in a solid La Nina during the heart of the season... Combine that with an Atlantic tripole signature, extremely warm waters in the MDR, lack of shear/day air, and look out! I'll be going after every land-falling hurricane this year! Just hope everyone takes the warnings very seriously!

[NCCNeon]

@LDCTSTORMCHASER Add the crude oil in the Gulf to the disaster potential. Although I'm unaware of any mechanism for that to affect hurricane intensity, it sure as heck could increase the impact.

I was in Panama City for Opal (and Eloise). I was on the beach until law enforcement forced me to leave. And, I shot some pretty impressive video on Hi8, but I don't currently have anything to play the tapes on. One of these days, I'll get a Hi8 camcorder just to digitize my old camcorder tapes.

[ffta707]

im in the car going there right now. driving there now 8 hours out of kentucky.

[AaDdPp1997]

i rember when the sand dunes used to be like a lil mini mountins now there like lil hills

[sweq32]

This happened a Month and 5 Days before I was born. :|(I wasn't born in Florida though)

[lostindiancamp]

I can't believe some fool was walking around in the hurricane.

[kizzle12344]

ahh fun times ,fun times...fwb fl. ftw!

[Joewillsetitright]

My wife and I were there stationed at Eglin AFB. That was an awesome storm! We had a great time! The beautiful power of nature...

[jriggs124]

It wasn't too bad compared to hugo and ivan. hurricane erin hit i think 1 month later. Hurricanes are fun

[CoCoHanson07]

wow...when I visited Florida for a month, it stormed every single day I was there! Crazy tropical weather they have!

[beebnegron]

i live there.its not that bad.

[rex41591]

hey i lived and still live in navarre i was like 4 when that hit

[EllisN3]

I lived in Mary Esther (next to Fort Walton) when Opal hit. I will never forget this storm! The storm surge flooded our house, and the winds just howled.

[Mikey851]

I was in Deston, Florida on vacation when this hurricane hit.

[vannbrett]

I remember everything about this day. I live in South Alabama, and the Eye of the Storm passed directly over the city I ive in. This storm was so damaging because it rained for nearly 3 days before the storm came on onshore, and moved so fast. There were sustained Hurricane force winds in North Alabama and Georgia.

[DUDE13PUNK]

i was born on this day

[honeydooda]

Just found your video...good filming!

I was here through it all not far from FWB High School...it was horrendous and I still get scared when it is hurricane season here.

[InterpolFL]

I live in Niceville, we had moved away 2 weeks prior to Opal and came back 3 years later, the house we had lived had a tree fall through the ceiling into the dining room.

[aass572001]

I was living at the dolphin Inn when opal, me and some guys I worked with at sears had a hell of a hurricane party. I was 31yrs old at the time. We had more work than we could do for 2 yrs

[HereMays]

must of been horrible

[Maccan]

Excellent video. Much better than the vids being produced by the storm chasers.

[only1sweetmaddy]

I was 12 years old at the time and rode it out in a barn 20 miles inland from PC beach. I stayed in that barn for four hours, candles, radio, my kitty cat, and I prayed. We had trees down, no power for 3 days.

[David279300]

3 days? thats nothing......i was without power for 2 weeks, and i live in Laurel Hill, about 20 miles north of Crestview.

[mickeyfreaks]

oh my gosh this happend on my exact birth day

[bpotts0401]

I lived in Ft. Walton beach, and I was about 9 when this hit.I remember this hurricane like it was yesterday. We had three tornadoes come over our house and lost power for like a week.

[geekstreat]

Incredible...

[hamlinfanVA]

My Uncle has taped Hurricane Opal in Panama City Beach just east of where Fort walton is

[robz2493]

yh shuttup

[Mailboxbillthefirst]

I was born 3 years before this awsome.

[WolfBoy70]

I'm glad to see coverage like this of Opal on line. In my opinion, all the news of Katrina was and still is over kill; way too much news for obvious storm damage by ignorant people refusing to evacuate. The residence of coastal areas are aptly warned. Floridians know this, I was one of them before I moved north, not because of hurricanes. I happen to find incliment weather such as hurricanes, snow, ice, and torrential rains exciting. Call me what you will, that's just me.

[chandler907]

I agree with you about ignorant people not wanting to evacuate.

Like they expect everyone to feel bad for them and everything.

I know it is sad because some of them lost there home,but they could have just gotten out of there and saved everyone trouble.

[chamine]

the damage was going to happen whether they evacuated or not

[bumptybu]

Great footage my friend and thanx for posting !

100*

Bump

[sainzja3]

I lived in Fort Walton Beach and I remember my dad waking me up in the middle of the night telling me we had to GO!

[Mailboxbillthefirst]

haha, my moms car got destroyed.

[cchili]

Yea I was 6 yrs old and living in Mobile, Al when Opal came through. I remember the winds were keeping me up all night. We also lost power for almost a full day...Although I'm sure we got nothin compared to Pensacola, Destin and F.W.B.

[br0kenwings24]

yea pensacola got hit real hard from the storm surge and all the sand was all over there the name opal got retired from a hurricane name and it hit mexico hard as well with category like 5 or 4 winds once it hit the surface

[gravediggerracing]

I was stationed at Hurlburt when Opal came through. Talk about a mess afterwards.......98 was a sand box in most spots and the dunes vanished between FWB and Destin.

[SvenM1ll1]

i was bornd after 3 yrars of that

[vtecivicsib18]

who gives a damn man really

[oiviey]

wow i was born thn!

[liquidstl]

somehow i missed this footage until now. Awesome

[herminamaria]

I lived in Mary Esther, next to Fort Walton Beach.The beach was in walking distance. The roads were so congested that e stayed in our home. The next morning when we went out it was unbelievable. We lucked out, only some singels from the roof and the trees in the yard were down. But many neighbors had a lot of damage.

[kimberly0791]

We lived N. of Montgomery, AL. I remember not being worried til I went to grocery store & saw food sold out. Then went to the car & looked up at the sky. Everywhere you looked there were mini rotations. My husband was in the USAF, had a hotel room @ Gunter Annex for a class. I was 6 mo. pregnant. We packed up & actually went South into the storm to stay. Had a big oak tree in front of house I thought would fall but ended up w/ 30 ft. tree in back of house. Glass window bowed in @ hotel. Scary!!!

[SixStringSamurai213]

I lived(and still do)in Fort Walton beach when Opal hit. Ill never forget when the eye came right over my house. It was beautiful and horrible at the same time. The only way I could describe it is nothingness. I stood outside seeing clear blue skies with a HUGE circle of clouds around. The only way I could describe it was nothingness. No birds, no noise, nothing. My hair literally stood up(dragonballz style). I will never forget it. We were without power for weeks(some months some years).

[vikingrich]

Wow, I remember that eye myself. We were playing ctach with a football. It was so amzing. It was an orange sky almost.

I'll never forget that eye. It's weird how you described it just like I remember.

[terry1919]

I was in Montgomery AL when Opal hit...

by the time Opal reached Montgomery it was 10PM and the Airport recorded a 90MPH gust

[jet7111]

never forget that night for the rest of my life. we had to house in danger on in panama city and our own house in auburn, alabama. Going through that storm was personal hell

[TheHulk850]

Boy howdy! I was stuck in that traffic jam with my golden retriever Jasper trying to evacuate.

[n2motocross]

Fantastic footage.. great job!

[StarlightWildKoneko]

A hurricane with my name...makes me wonder if I am like this when mad...frightening...

[DTakersgurl]

I was in that Hurricane. It scared the crap outta me.  And I live 8 hours from the beach!

In Georgia!

it took the roof from my house. Thank God my family and I went to a shelter.

[fwbrc51]

great job with this video and the detailed info. i remember this storm but i evacuated with my family. i still remember business sign pieces significanly down the road from their origin and also all the boats that were tossed north of hwy 98 in the original outlet mall parking lot.

[aimige]

I remember this one. I was 18 and it really didn't seem that bad..

[aus2045]

Wow Scary, I am glad we dont get Hurricanes in Australia,

[vikingrich]

I will never forget it. The second one we had that year.

[interstateruler]

Was this a category 3 or 4?

[vmax135]

Opal was a category three at landfall with sustained winds of 125mph and a central pressure of 942mb. The peak winds at my location in this clip are likely on the high end of category two, sustained between 100-110mph with gusts between 130-140mph.

[interstateruler]

ok thanks

[alabama2005]

wow! iwas 8 going on 9 then and i remeber this well. like yesterday.i live in easten alabama and we were very affected by this storm. trees down, homes ruined and too much lightning.only katrina and ita can beat opal, and andrew in 1992.this made me fear mothe nature!!

[09brotha]

theres days inn my mom's used to work there during that time when opal struck.I remember that storm,I was 6 at the time

[real0988]

Interesting video like of custom Michael .. I saw your scenes in Discovery Channel .. the rapid strengthening of Opal is surprising and it seems that this is the widespread tendency .. let's see that the season 2008 has us prepared.

[AllenBuckman]

i was one of the many people on the interstate fleeing, i went to georgia.

[MATCHUHCTAM]

I remember all of this clearly and I was only 5 at the time. I lost my home in Opal...I was in Shalimar at the time. Im glad I found this video though even if it brings back bad memories.

[gibs98]

Yea, I remember this one quite well. What normally should have been a 5 hour drive to evacuate out of town took us 13 hours cause of all that traffic.

[btak49]

That is the only storm that we ever evacuated from. We stayed in our Shalimar home for all of the other storms. The bad thing is that because we evacuated, we got into a major car accident and ended up moving back to GA in April '06.

[Pokemon978IsBackOn]

Man, big traffic.

[goin2gogetta102]

my ex waz bor during opal!

[Projectmillionaire]

i was in florida when this hurricane hit

it was crazy

ChrisBroad dot com

[twaeng]

Thank you for this video. It's very impressing, and well done, too. Good pictures, despite the hard wind!

That water rose quite quickly. Did the man in the car with brake lights on finally make it out?

Tip: next time, try recording without AGC. AGC causes the sound to drop out in wind gusts. -

I remember some of the heavier storms here in northern Germany, like Wiebke, Kyrill, but Opal is outclassing them - even the lower saxony storm of '72. Opal's brunt is quite hard to imagine for me.

[FacultyFan]

I remember this storm. I was 11 and went to the NCO club shelter on Hurlburt Field.

[batchman04]

i was 1 when this happend and i went through it too it was menacing and all i could hear was howling and thats why we left flordia because our house was destroyed i even have pictures of our house and its not pretty.

[regusted]

Florida is abbreviated Fla., not "FL."

[vmax135]

Hi Tom. While the traditional three-letter state abbreviations can still be used, the Secretary of Commerce approved the use of two-letter state codes for all government documents in 1987. The US Postal Service also adopted the two-letter abbreviations and strongly encourages their use. On the other hand the AP Stylebook, for newspaper and journalism, continues to support traditional three-letter designations. Either way, "FL" (without a period) is indeed a correct abbreviation for Florida.

[systemofadownfan89]

my cousin came to our house and we rode it out he slapt through the whole thing and thank god we didnt even get a scratch on our house

[brachel0522]

This one was definitely the strongest hurricance I had been through. I grew up in Niceville and every year still I welcome every one of them! :)

[ancientmexican]

i live in destin im now goin to fdub

[moviemagg]

Hey Mike,who's that funny looking guy in the red raincoat. Wait a minute, why that's me! Had not seen this footage for some time. Great shots! Enjoyed your Wilma footage as well. Nice video! Take care. Steve W.

[vmax135]

WOW!!! Hi Steve... it's been a long time! Thanks for the comment. You and your red raincoat definitely added a great touch to the Opal footage. I'm helping Jim upload a lot of his footage too, so check out his channel too when you get a chance.

[deathofyou72087]

i lived in the tanglewood section of fwb and tried to evacuate, we ended up having to take shelter at humana hospital b/c of the traffic (or fort walton beach hospital i think it's now called), we could hear the wind coming up the elevator shafts and the building was swaying, alot of homes and livelihoods were destroyed as a result of this storm, i was only 8 years old when this happened, and this is a reason i'm glad i moved to pennsylvania, only here it's blizzards, not hurricanes lol

[jennnnnnnnnniferrrrr]

wow i was 6 when this happened now i'm 16 i still live here. thats crazy i didn't think it was this bad...wow

[extremeweatherguy]

you were 6 in 1995 and you are only 16 now (almost 12 years later)? The math doesn't quite work out there. Shouldn't you be 18 now?

[jamie6747]

ha that reply rules

[thunderstormabbi]

i feel really sorry for people who got caught in hurricane opal

[marathontestdrive]

Actually I remember Hurricane Opal because in about 24 hours the storm's center was right above my location near the Toronto-Niagara Falls area in Ontario, Canada. Though it wasn't a hurricane any longer, it was still a very powerful storm because it didn't have time to lose alot of strength yet.

[marathontestdrive]

wow, thats amazing footage

[tasuki199]

Over ten years ago and just now I'm seeing why they wouldn't allow us onto highway 98 to drive home the morning after. It still tears me up to see my home like this. But thank you for showing me a glimpse of what I only saw the aftermath of.

[Mybosss]

So cool my house which was 1/2 mile from that location on the bay got hit bad.After that I moved inland. So much for my pretty boat dock....great footage ........

[DukeDevil91]

Id say Opal had way worse surge than Ivan from where I live (Fort Walton Beach) But Ivan took the cake on the wind factor.

[yatahe49]

yeah much of the days inn and santa rosa sound video was shot from the ebb tide apts. The guy in the yellow raincoat was a national weather service person staying at the Days inn. Later that night the caretaker at the apts was flooded out from the apts and took refuge with the weather guys at the days. All those boats you saw at the dock either sunk or were washed up across the street on 98. wow

[vmax135]

(cont.) we just had our car parked behind the building to keep it out of the surge. Later, the guy who wades over to the Days Inn, wasn't the caretaker of the apts, he was just one of several residents who decided to stay in his unit during the storm, and then majorly regretted it. I think he was actually a local radio announcer... at least that's what he told us.

[vmax135]

Wow... pretty close!!! You got almost all the details exactly right?!? Did you talk to one of the other chasers in my team? Just for clarification though, the guy in the rain coat (it's actually red) is storm chaser Steve Wacholder, who was on my chase team (not affiliated with the NWS). We weren't staying at the Days Inn (it was closed from the evacuation) (cont.)

[yatahe49]

No I didn't. But I lived at the Ebb Tide that day. Ok now I remember the guy who came over to you thought you were with NWS. Yeah I balied out about 8am and went 1 mile inland. Came back the day after and saw the damage. Cool vid. Man that was scary you guys could have been blown away. What was the mad wind ? 120+?

[vmax135]

Wow, what are the chances... finding someone who actually lived at that apt complex? If you had stayed a bit longer, we probably would have talked... haha. Hurlburt Field actually reported a peak gust of 144mph so, being conservative, I estimate our sustained winds at about 100-110mph, with peak gusts somewhere between 120-140mph.

[Stormchaser2be]

i remember this...VERY well

[BeatleJen97]

OMG I go to Ft. Walton Beach, Florida EVERY Spring Break. It is scary in hurricane wheather. REALLY scary. we almost lost our car in a flood. !=0

[dhumphryes]

i lived in panama city at the time, omg this was a bad hurricane, im afraid this year will bring another bad one.

[scwill]

I lived in Niceville at this time, damn ill never forget it.

[brian48]

my spelling was way off sorry

[brian48]

man i as sleepiny in my bathroom lol

[brian48]

hey do you have a dvd or vhs of this and if you want could you send it to me thank you have a nice weekend

[vmax135]

Thanks for the great comments. I'm glad everyone enjoyed the footage.

[brian48]

i lived in russell county alabama then 1995 man i was out of power for 2 weeks i lived at walmart lol it was the only store and a few homes oround me that had power could not work i woke up whith a tree on my house at 3 am in the morning my car for some strange reason did not get a scratch so me and a few friends got together at the radio grill at walmart the next day man memories this brings back good and bad thanks 5 out of 5

[sargean]

Awesome footage.

[Egorex890]

I lived in Fort Walton Beach when this happened. It was quite a storm. The aftermath was bad too.

[WahUknO]

why are they by power lines...retards!!!

[fatsurgeries]

I was in Baldwin County (Alabama) during this storm, and remembered it as a minor event. It's very interesting to see the perspective from closer to the eye.

I'm curious VMAX, do you have to get special permission to enter the storm zone or do you just wander in?

[positronthreesevens]

I rode this storm out down dixie graves parkway (Al peninsula), 15 miles west from 59, bay side. It wasn't a minor event where I was. The surge came up to the house at least 8 ft high. Washed half of the yard away, then it sucked out the water from the bay dry, it was amazing. Totally did a FUBAR on the bayous too. Couldn't even see the sawgrass anymore.

[docmark72]

Wow. What kind of asshat (besides the almighty stud, Jim Cantore) goes out and just hangs out by the shore during the approach of a Cat 4 storm?!

[vmax135]

I guess this 'asshat' does. "Hanging out by the shore during the approach of a Cat 4 storm" is EXACTLY what professional storm chasers (and apparently 'asshats') do. The main differnce being that storm chasers usually survive, and provide valuable scientific data... the 'asshats', not so much. I'll definitely let Jim Cantore know you think he's an almighty stud though.

[docmark72]

Hey man, hope you realize that I really meant no insult. I'm just all about the 'respect mother nature' thing, ya know? I wouldn't do it, simply because I'm not into challenging nature, lest she give me a quick education. Anyway, thanks for the vid.

[AliasUndercover]

The roads are always so nice going toward the hurricane...

[arollo]

This video makes me really homesick for Florida, believe it or not. Thanks for posting it!

[umybich]

Why people live where it storms like that. people do here to but not as much as america. they not so smart there.

[Dalefan38]

I was on the air for three days with 99 rock at the time. It was quite interesting to say the least.

[bwlfp]

Was the flooding from the storm surge or from heavy rainfall? Nice video.

[vmax135]

That was all storm surge flooding from Santa Rosa Sound, which is the body of water you see near the beginning of the video. Our area received a 13ft surge and, with the 8ft elevation at our location, the surge inundation peaked at about 5ft, with higher waves on top of that.

[illdrums2000]

i evacuated this hurricane

[liquidstl]

WOw that shield of clouds in te begining is impressive.

Also, maby its just your recording device, but the audio is great too. 4/5

[vmax135]

Thanks! Aside from some minor clean up of the audio during editing (using Sony Vegas), I don't normally use any other devices...this was recorded with the camera's built-in mic. In some situations, using an a wind screen or external gun mic can be helpful, since wind noise on the mic can be really distracting. As for that low, dark, ragged cloud line at the beginning, yeah, it was very ominous. It made me a little nevous driving into it...haha.