Hurricane Opal (1995)

After forming near Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and crossing the Gulf of Mexico, Opal came ashore at Pensacola Beach, Florida, near 2200 UTC (about 5 p.m. CDT) on October 4, 1995, as a Category 3 hurricane with 100-knot (115 mph) winds and a 942 mb central pressure.^1,2 NHC places the strongest winds in a narrow strip of coast between Destin and Panama City, and most of the Florida panhandle coast had Category 1 or 2 winds.¹ Hurlburt Field, Florida, measured sustained winds of 73 knots (84 mph) and a gust of 125 knots (144 mph).¹

Storm surge of 10 to 15 feet hit the coast from Navarre Beach east to Destin, with 6 to 8 feet in the bays from Pensacola to Choctawhatchee Bay and 4 to 7 feet from Orange Beach to Dauphin Island, Alabama.² From southeastern Mobile Bay to Cedar Key, still water marks inside buildings and tide gauge peaks showed surge of 5 to 14 feet above mean sea level, and buildings in the surge and wave zone that were not raised high enough had major structural damage.¹ The surge destroyed most Gulf-facing homes from Navarre Beach to east of Destin, and NWS Mobile counts nearly 300 homes destroyed and 1,000 more with major damage.² Inland, wind destroyed more than 125 homes and caused major damage to 150 more across southwest and south central Alabama.² A tornado killed one person in Crestview, Florida, and another severely damaged a number of structures in Charles, Prince George's and Anne Arundel counties in Maryland.¹ NHC counts 13 US deaths, none from storm surge, and in 2011 revised its US damage estimate for Opal to $5.142 billion.¹