25th Anniversary of Hurricane Opal

This week is the 25th anniversary of Hurricane Opal. The storm, once a Category 4 at sea, killed over 60 people from Guatemala and Mexico to the U.S.

This week is the 25th anniversary of Hurricane Opal. The following information is from our story "7 of the most notorious October hurricanes in the Atlantic" and our older "Remembering Hurricane Opal" 15th-anniversary story:

CLICK TO ENLARGE: Most of the photographs below can be downloaded in high resolution by clicking on them.

Opal formed on Sept. 27, 1995, and hit the western Florida Panhandle near Pensacola as a Category 3 hurricane on Oct. 4, 1995, with winds that gusted to 144 mph at Hurlburt Field, FL, according to the National Weather Service. The storm, once a Category 4 at sea, killed over 60 people from Guatemala

There were nine fatalities reported in the mainland United States, including one local fatality in Crestview, Florida, due to an EF2 tornado. Hurricane Opal's damage amounted to 5.1 billion in U.S. dollars.

Opal's heavy rainfall doused parts of Georgia, Florida, Alabama and Mississippi with 4 to 8 inches of rain in a matter of 36 hours. Ellyson, Florida, was inundated by 15.45 inches of rain, while Brewton, Alabama got 19.42 inches. The heaviest rain was in a similar area to where Hurricane Sally dropped even more rain last month -- near the border of the Florida Panhandle and Alabama. Opal, however, dropped higher totals farther north in Alabama.

A destructive storm surge, as high as 14 feet, accompanied the storm as well. Severe damage occurred at Pensacola Beach, where the fishing pier was demolished. The storm surge also washed out the bottom floor of a motel and completely destroyed a restaurant.

Opal charged inland, remaining a hurricane until reaching into northern Alabama 12 hours later. The storm spawned tornadoes in Virginia and Maryland, while intense winds damaged buildings and left nearly all of Macon County, North Carolina, without power. 

Before menacing the eastern Gulf Coast, Opal left behind devastation on the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico and Guatemala. Forming on Sept. 27, 1995, the storm proceeded over the region as a tropical depression during the next few days, unleashing flooding rainfall that killed at least 50 people.

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