Hurricane Ivan Storm Surge Video - Pensacola Beach, Florida 

This storm will forever haunt me! I am thankful that my family survived and wasn't hurt. Feeling your house shift and your roof being torn off is very traumatic. Pensacola has never fully recovered and I will never be the same!

It's actually SHOCKING how under reported the death toll was. We lived just over the bridge from Perdido Key. While listening to the radio numerous people called from the Bayou Grande subdivision, crying and asking the radio station why no Emergency vehicles could come out because there were "dead bodies floating in the water." A friend of ours who lived there also said that they saw more dead bodies there ALONE than were reported for the Pensacola total deaths.

Amazing how the Futureo house (UFO house) was built in the 60s and made it through this...only people from Pensacola will know what I mean!

2:19 Brings back flashbacks, the sound of that howling wind filled the whole room. I was only two when Ivan hit and yet I can recall the roaring wind.

When I was a kid, around 3 or 4, I sat through this hurricane while my grandmother was bawling her eyes out. It was the first time my family had been separated during a hurricane, usually we just. kinda congregated at someone's house. Anyways, for some stupid reason, my grandmother had the wooden door open so I could see out the screen door. There was destruction and chaos everywhere. At one point, I was looking at my old dollhouse my grandfather had made for me before I was born. It got ripped off of the porch, which it was nailed to. I cured for about an hour over that thing which, looking back, is unreasonable. In the end, the roof got ripped off the house I was in. My great grandparents barely survived. Their whole house was demolished. The only way they survived is by sitting in the bathroom, which was the only thing left standing. During this video, the howling of the winds reminded me of this incident. They sent, and still send, shivers up my spine every time I hear them.

Ive been through Frederick,Erin,Opal,and Ivan,and all the "rain makers" in between here In Pensacola,and nothing had me more worried than Ivan did.

I love the fact that they just filmed throughout the entire 8/9 minutes and didn't say much of anything. There is nothing more frustrating when you have someone trying to talk about what's happening in these vids. To watch this was riveting. No voice over needed.

Finally left Florida after this one, can always visit. Living in the Texas hills now.

I lived in Navarre during hurricane Ivan. The wind around the house sounded like screaming spirits. We were just north of highway 98 about 1/2 mile north of the sound. It was terrifying. Awesome video.

Ivan was HUGE. I was 100 miles to the East, in Panama City, and we had sustained gale force winds for over 12 hours even there.

Absolutely incredible video, Mike! The nighttime footage is amazing. I'm pretty familiar with that nerve-wracking, totally isolated feeling being stuck in an enclosed location, in complete darkness, during the height of a major hurricane... and your footage captures that perfectly! That wind noise between 2:20 and 2:30 is so eerie!

To be alone in this, surrounded by so much force and destruction, knowing everyone around you is in danger because you’re the few who are safe, that’s chilling. Especially the parts in the beginning showing the dark, pitch black hallways, with the screaming winds outside. Amazing recording.

I lived through hurricane Ivan here in Jamaica. Had to house neighbors. And since that several other hurricanes but thank God we made it through. Just thinking of the Bahamians

Scary footage. Ivan is the main reason I didn’t move back to Pensacola at the time. The whole city seemed depressed and worn out for over two years. Folks were mentally spent. Took a while to recover. Thinking of the beach. I remember how tall the sand dunes were back in the early 80s. They were like little mountains to a 5 year old. The beach is still beautiful but has transformed through the decades due to hurricanes. Sand dunes are no where near as tall as they were. Believe it or not the sand was even whiter then. Miss living there and near those beautiful beaches.

I don't get why they called it a Cat 3 when the storm was producing much higher winds and began pounding the Gulf Coast 5-6 hours before the eye made landfall. They should consider that when the rate the hurricanes, as Ivan's wind speed slowed down to a Category 3 just before the eye hit, not before that. I remember it getting bad outside at 9:30 pm and I went to my mom's in Crestview. That's when the power went out and things were hitting the boards on the windows there by 11pm. So, so much damage everywhere, including Navarre and Ft Walton Beach.

I remember going through this storm. When I tell you. This was the scariest experience I’ve ever had.

I went to Pensacola, Fl. in Oct 2005 and they were pretty much still recovering. There is a bridge that they don't use anymore.

I live in Navarre and I've lived through hurricanes like Betsy and Opal and Ivan and Dennis, and I can tell you it is unbelievably scary. Never stay home. Always evacuate to safety or to a place that is safer than your home. Never stay on an island. You cannot hold up the walls or stop such a force of destruction. You cannot save yourself much less anyone else. My advice is leave when they tell you to.

I lives through that hurricane and remain here. Our beaches still haven't fully recovered.

@UltimateChase I just gotta say. You have big balls my friend. I remember Ivan, I rode it out with a friend in cantonment, and I was quite petrified with that distinct howling noise you only get with a strong hurricane. But to be there that close, and look Ivan in the eye, you got my respect. Thanks for the footage, as a pensacola native, I never really saw the damage with the 3 mile bridge destroyed for so long.

Mike, amazing footage!! Very interesting to see the water seeping through the concrete like that!! Very scary stuff!! 5 Stars and an add to my favs!!

this was my first hurricane, and nothing has beaten it yet for me. I'll never forget waking up in the middle of the night and seeing the tops of the pines almost touching the ground from the wind only when lightning struck....

Wow! I remember waiting for this to be over. I don't think I will ever sit through one this strong again. It tore up Pensacola!

i lived through this, had a tornado come through my backyard. went outside to help my dad shut his bed cover on his truck. the wind blew me on my ass. sounds like a train shit was scary as hell. never again will i sit thru a category 4 hurricane.

I was living there then. I lived in a trailer park in Myrtle Grove and I was at the Civic Center shelter before it even opened. My trailer got cut in half by a pine tree. FEMA helped immensely.

Wow! Incredible video!! I'll never forget that night!!

Thank you ...15 years ago ...

how could anyone give this a thumbs down???

Mike Theiss : I live in Graceville, Florida. Graceville is three miles south of the Florida/Alabama State line. I'm twenty miles south of Dothan, Alabama; and sixty miles north of Panama City, Florida. Hurricane Ivan almost blew my little town off the map. It blew down power lines. It uprooted massive oak trees and pecan trees. It spawned six tornadoes in Jackson County, where I live. It was rough, but no where near what Pensacola got. I know Warrington is still trying to recover from Ivan the Terrible. Remember what it did to the east bound lane of I-10, over Escambia Bay?

I stayed at a friend's house in Cordova Park during this hurricane. At times, the back door of her home would fly open because of the wind. The whole house shook violently. My dad and I sat on the front porch watching transformers blow across the neighborhood. The next morning we tried to get to our house in Avalon Beach only to find that the bridge had been obliterated. Talk about a crazy storm! It took us two days to find out our house had been destroyed.

Holy Crap!!! I am so glad I was not there to experience that. I would've been up all night not getting any sleep because I would be worried that my house was going to be completely destroyed.

I love your videos - very amazing and educational. People need to make videos like this to show how dangerous storm surges are and how fast the water can rise. The no 1 cause of death in hurricanes is drowning due to storm surge. I have no doubt that your work saves lives 👍🏼

When Ivan hit, I was living in Mary Esther. We went east to Talahassee and, the following day, made our way back. All our neighbors followed the storm north into Alabama. It took them 3 days to get home. I still don't understand why they proceeded to go where the storm was heading.

It is a very good documentary film here.

One of the worst nights of my life. Sitting there in my house by candlelight and listening to the huge pine trees snapping and thundering onto the ground... wondering if the next one was gonna land in my living room.

On top of high winds, storm surge, rain, alaways, always these storms spin off tornados & you don't see them coming. Ivan was said to spin off 142 tornados

I moved to Pensacola 2 days before Ivan hit. Was definitely a good Welcome to Florida experience!

Rode this storm out in Pleasant Grove on the south of Gulf Beach Hwy on Weller Ave. Special night to be sure. Luckily I had lots of beer to drink. Not 5 miles down the road at Grande Lagoon people were dying. At one time shortly before landfall I thought the roof would come off. I took example from my mother's cat and hid in the back bedroom for a bit. Would I evacuate for a similar storm? Hell no. The time to leave is after the storm when everything is messed up.

Fantastic video, Ultimate Chase. Thank's for posting it.

PENSACOLA! My favorite place in Florida.

Incredible footage here, Mike! the wind sounded very spooky and I can only image how fast your adrenelin was pumping. Love this video and thank you so much for sharing it with me-5 stars! :)

It was bad in Pensacola but worse in Gulf Shores. The East end of the eye went over my head at 2:15 AM. I'll never forget it because a wave knocked my front door off right after and it shook the beach house so bad the clock fell off the wall and it was 2:15. I should've never rode out this storm down there.

Debbie Davis : I had read that Ivan created waves over 105 feet high out in the Gulf. I was in the Navy and stationed at N.A.S. Pensacola from September, 1978 till I got out in December, 1982. I was in Pensacola, and living in Warrington when Fred hit in September, 1979. It was rough. My wife and I were living in these apartments on Bayou Grande, just across from the Navy base. You could see the front gate of N.A.S. from our front yard. The water almost came into our apartment. The threshold kept it out. My wife and I had to evacuate. Fortunately, she had some old college friends who lived off New Warrington Road. We stayed there for the night. The winds there got up to 100 mph. It was rough. But I know Ivan was a whole lot worse..

Too bad it doesn't show the 90' wall of water that came into Escambia Bay and took several sections of the I-10 Bridge out! It was a VERY Long night and when we all woke up it looked like a war zone!

Hurricane Ivan destroyed our beautiful beach front condo. We came back months after the storm to see the damage ourselves. The roads were all washed away, the parking lot to our building was completely gone. The in ground pool was propped against the building. And the lobby was so full of sand we had to crouch to get into the stair well. It was incredible to think what occurred during that storm, but now I know!

I love storm chasing so I can appreciate what you guys are doing.Good job.

I wasn't in Pensacola for Ivan, I never realized how much it changed everything.....I'm in complete shock.

Visited and still visit this area to this day last time about a month ago. The effects of that storm are still visible. Asphalt is still very noticeably seen mixed with sand from Pensacola Beach all the way to Navarre. Loved visiting this area due to the storm and it's destruction... the road ended about 2 miles after the Portofino Island Resort towers. Walk into a world again without humans.

It looks like when he opened the door to outside 2:31, there's was no balcony is was straight down. This is most likely because the stairwell was blown off by the extreme wind.

That's hard to imagine when 65 miles north of us (in Brewton, Alabama) there was major damage.

The crazy thing about Ivan was the amount of tornadoes it produced. I was in Atmore, Al at the time and it was one heck of a storm.

thanks for letting me enjoy Ivan from my house, thats crazy

1:30 pm our lights went out for 8 days.

dude really opened the door

I was there. Man, it was a disaster. Pensacola was like went 50 years back.

I went through Ivan,Katrina,Irma,Charlie,and Andrew.I honestly think Irma was the worst!

So sad! Navarre is so Beautiful! Drove through there yesterday and it looks like it’s rebuilding pretty good hope everyone was okay and bounced back! ❤

I was 8, my 6’5” grandpa held the front door shut the whole time after the wind busted the knob off the door. My childhood died after this day.

who’s watching this in 2019?

Looks bad there, and it was probably even worse across the state line in Orange Beach

Incredible video Mike!! Excellent job. I remember trying to film Frances during the night time hours and it was next to impossible. I wish I had that flood light like you did.

Can't wait to relocate to Pensacola!!! Anything has to be better than Minnesota, the land of ice and snow!!!!

After the hurricane was passing towards the end all the sand everywhere it reminded me of Jeanne and Francis and 2004. Out here Hutchinson Island it looked just the same sand everywhere so much sand. Everything buried

I've been through Harvey, Irma, and Sandy

Hot sure you should have risked your life for it, Mike, but thank you. As a person who has visited Pensacola for 60 years, I appreciate it. This takes me back to Charlie and Mobile.

I lived inland. When we walked out the house I didn’t recognize my own neighborhood.

wow the parts where he was inside a building you could use for a horror movie or a horror video games for sure

You alive to tell the story.Its a scary exsperience I exsperienced a Thypoon in the Philippines.Most powerless moment in my life.This brings back horrifying memories

just want to say I love your videos and keep them coming!! :)

My grandma lives in the condo this was filmed at. I've been there and it was so weird seeing all of those buildings/trees on the ground

You didn't get to see much in the darkness, but when daylight returned, you certainly got plenty of damage to take footage of. That was one of the nastier storms to blow up out of that part of the Gulf, and it hit at one of the more dangerous coastlines for a storm surge.

6:31 Was that at the Flounders Restaurant, opposite Pensacola Beach, on the pier?

I will never forget that Wednesday night Thursday morning, no sleep

Just imagine if tornadoes stayed on the ground equally as long as a hurricane.

I was in Escambia County during Ivan. Truly terrifying shit.

I knew what you meant, severeT. I can never bring myself to evacuate even though I live on Pensacola Bay. I wasn't at all crazy about Ivan coming knowing the potential destruction it could cause but was also very excited. I rationalized that Ivan was coming and there was absolutely nothing I can do about it so being the meteorlogical freak that I am, it was the second most exciting night of my life...of course, the New Orleans Saints winning the Superbowl is number one.

This is actually scary...Ivan looks a lot scarier than other ones but maybe because it hit at night

I worked night shift at West Florida Hospital. We ended up putting all the patients that was possible in the hallway except for a couple ,one of them would pass that night,rip,I took care of him in the dark, I had a patient pull out blood transfusion and couldn’t find it til the next day, it was complete madness but I felt safe in that building, People sheltered there for weeks afterward. One of my fellow nurses house in Perdido Key was destroyed, he lived in an RV in the parking lot for at least 6 months.

I was seven years old when Ivan happened, living in the Myrtle Grove area. While I slept through a good bit of the storm, I was scared. My mom stated that she remembers the neighbors' roof being sent flying down the road. Luckily, family was staying either in my home or at the home of a family friend down the street. I didn't understand why I couldn't go to school like a day or two later until my mom told me that a couple trees fall on the school. I was also scared when I came home to the ceiling having caved in, and my mom, brother and I had to stay in a small apartment on our property until we got everything fixed. We were spending so much money on trying to repair everything that I slept on a bare mattress for several months until we were able to avoid a new bed frame for me. Nowadays, my family makes jokes about it to lighten up the situation despite how dangerous it was at the time

This was such a massive and such an impressive storm I'm really surprised that there really isn't any actual footage of the storm except for so far this video.

The LIMITED Audio does not do the storm Justice,.....it was 10x and So Horrible,.

How far inland do these storms normally go? I want to move to Pensacola is why I'm watching this and it looks like they get storms often...yikes

I love Pensacola. Its my home. Florida is THE BEST PLACE TO LIVE ON EARTH.

I remember watching this live, Be Safe Out There

You got to be crazy! I lived in Montgomery during this and it was very unsettling there so I can imagine how bad this was.

at 4:11 that little tannish pink house with the four windows is our old house. damage was pretty bad

Hey! I feel ripped off. The start of the video says "Never before seen video..". Yet the viewer count stands at 77,685. I want my money back!

Incredible footage.

The sandblast is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It was so deep it could be mistaken as snow

I remember I was in the storm it was cold dark I almost hit with a bored bashed the window open and almost hit me in the face when the eyewall past

I live in Pensacola and we're having a tornado warning right now and that's why I'm watching this #2017

why does 130 mph winds sounds so scary?

That was the year I was in the Navy on Corry Station and they all put us in a concrete building and it was awesome watching the rain come down totally horizontal but the devastation afterward was totally shocking

YourLockerzPal : I went to the University of West Florida from September, 1972 till I graduated in December, 1974; and went back in the spring of '75 to work on another degree, but got tired of school and dropped out. I'd gone out to the beach a few times and saw the UFO then; and then I went into the Navy and was stationed at N.A.S. Pensacola from September, 1978 till I got out in December, 1982. I went out to the beach a few times then, and saw the UFO. It's easy to understand why the UFO survived Hurricane Fred in 1979 and Ivan in 2004. The way that UFO is shaped, the winds just can't get a good grip on it. And maybe a storm surge can't get a good grip on it either.

I feel like this was more of a ghost hunting video!

Hi I'm from South Africa and we don't get storms like this, I would like to know, is this a common occurrence there or once every few years?

I rode this storm out. I remember around 1:00 am housing was shaking

My family and I lived in Navarra.The next morning was so terrifying and scary when you woke up and you seem Condominiums land in the middle of Highway 98.I started crying and breaking down and freaking out when I saw a family's condominium Tully Road open and all their belongings crushed and shattered inside so sad. Winn-Dixie Winn-Dixie was totally shaved off of its foundation the cowboy Steakhouse that was on the Sound side of Navarre right before you go over the bridge was totally gone.

Wow, I am so greatful to have seen this video! I am from Navarre Florida and at the time of Ivan my son had just turned 1 on the 2nd of Sept. I am so happy to have seen this because when I 1st met his father he lived on p'cola beach in the A framed house that you showed. When we went out to check out the damage however the A frame and the rest along with the neighbores house was completely gone! So it was nice to see! Kinda! Funny to think I did a lot of sneaking through those low windows!

Mike, where are you??????? Your the best brother...!!!