Wind and rain beginning to pick up.We expect tropical force winds by mid afternoon.Hurricane winds by this evening.

And now Jeanne to follow.

Take cover and keep your head down.

Power is gone,roads are already flooded.This may be nasty.

For those of you unaware, Ray's considered "essential" personnel at the VA Hospital in Biloxi, MS. He'll be riding out Ivan at the hospital - across the boulevard from the beach.

What that means is that I was out of the room when they named the "essential"personel.Actually,this is a pretty safe place to be,all things considered.We have power back tempararaly.Winds about 50-60 mph,plenty of rain.It will get worse.

We just had a busload of patients brought in from another hospital that was damaged.No injuries but a lot of scared people.

Oh Ray, please do be careful....this is a really nasty storm. Hurricane season has been awful this year! My mom was evacuated with Frances, she lives on the beach in Dayton. She was lucky though, didn't take a direct hit and only lost a few roof tiles.

I'm OK,just getting tired now.Too much noise.How does anyone sleep in a hospital?

Made it through.We got lucky,Florida got most of it.Thanks for all of ya'lls calls and encouragement.

Ray,

Glad to see that you are OK. Hope it doesn't take too long for things to get back to normal. It does look like Pensacola got hammered. Has anyone heard from Larry Long or his sisters in that area?

Ray & Bill,
Glad to see that you are both accounted for now. Hopefully others will check in when they can. Still "keeping watch"

Very glad to see all are accounted for in the path of Ivan and the other hurricanes. Keep the watch, there are others forming...this has been a very strange year for weather. We really need the rain in the west, not getting a drop, yet that's all they are getting in the east.

Bill -
I visited with Diane Long, Larry's sister, earlier today. Larry and Sissy have not been allowed to return to Perdido Key, but have received word that their house is most probably still standing - extent of damage is unknown. (Larry's home is located in Orange Beach)

I also spoke with Sid George '66, who lives between Pensacola and Destin. They came through Ivan with only minor damage.

More news - apparently the legendary Flora-Bama Lounge is history, but the Pink Pony Pub weathered the storm

A friend of mine was on vacation a month ago. Visited his Aunt just outside Pensacola. He just heard that her entire house is gone.

I've been watching TLC, Trading Spaces, While You Were Out, etc. They are trying to establish help for people that suffered during these storms. I think it's time to log onto their page and see what I can do.

It's great to hear that so many of our alumni and their families came through okay. Thank goodness.

That is just the hardy background of our "Ankara Family" or "Istanbul Family", "Adana Family" or whatever you want to call it. I think because of the hardships, well according to our upbringing that is, we were able to make it through Turkey and the huge changes from being in the US, anything else is just an irritation.