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<br />I <br />I <br />I <br /> <br />i: <br />I <br />, <br />, <br />, <br /> <br />,I <br />I <br /> <br />1.3 <br /> <br />HURRICANE OPAL - STORM CONDITIONS <br /> <br />Hurricane Opal was classified as a Category 3 storm on the Saffir-Simpson scale at the time <br />oflandfull, with a central pressure of 940 millibars (mb) and recorded sustained wind speeds of <br />approximately 110 to 115 miles per hour (mph). Recorded wind speeds rapidly decayed to 86 to <br />92 mph just inland. The storm was moving north-northeast with a forward speed of 22 mph at <br />landfall (National Oceanic and Aunospheric Administration 1995). <br /> <br />Water level dala from a National Oceanic and Aunospheric Administration (NOAA) tide <br />gage on the Panama City Beach pier show a peak water level of approximately 8.5 feet above <br />Mean Lower Low Water (MLLW) at 6:00 p.m. c.d.t., nearly 8 feet above the predicted <br />astronomical tide. Water level dala from the NOAA gage at Apalachicola show a peak water level <br />of approximately 6.6 feet MLLW at 7:30 p.m. c.d.t., approximately 6 feet above the predicted <br />astronomical tide. <br /> <br />High-water mark surveys conducted after Hurricane Opal (Michael Baker,]r. 1995) show <br />that water levels ranged from approximately 8 to 11 feet National Geodetic Vertical Datum <br />(NGVD) along Sanla Rosa Island between Pensacola Beach and Fort Walton Beach, <br />approximately 12 to 20 feet NGVD between Destin and Seagrove Beach, and approximately 8 to <br />12 feet NGVD along Panama City Beach. <br /> <br />1.4 LOCAL, STATE, AND FEDERAL SITING AND BUILDING CODE <br />REQUIREMENTS <br /> <br />Construction along and near the shoreline in the study area was generally governed by <br />one or more of the following: the Slandard Building Code, enforced by local or county <br />governments; NFIP construction requirements - in identified Special Flood Hazard Areas- <br />enforced by local or county governments; and Slate construction requirements for structures <br />seaward of the Coastal Construction Control Line (CCCL), enforced by FDEP, Bureau of <br />Beaches and Coaslal Systems (formerly known as the Florida Department of Natural Resources, <br />Division of Beaches and Shores). <br /> <br />FIRMs which show Base Flood Elevations (BFEs) that include wave height effects were <br />adopted by communities in the study area between]une 1983 and August 1987. (The base flood, <br />also referred to as the 100-year flood, is the flood that has a I-percent probability of being equaled <br />or exceeded in any given year and is the basis for the regulatory requirements of the NFIP.) <br />Because the NFIP Flood Insurance Studies on which the FIRMs are based were completed at <br />different times, during which V-Zone mapping criteria were evolving, some of the studies <br />accounted for wave setup, wave runup, and erosion, and others did not. <br /> <br />The Flood Insurance Studies indicate that the predicted 100-year stillwater (or storm surge) <br />elevations along the majority of the Gulf of Mexico shoreline in the study area range from 4 feet <br />to 6 feet NGVD. In the same area, V-Zones generally range from 100 to 300 feet in width and the <br />wave crest elevations in the V-Zone range from 7 to 9 feet NGVD. Higher elevations are indicated <br />for the Pensacola Beach and Perdido Key areas, where the predicted l00-year stillwater elevations <br />range from 8 feet to 12 feet NGVD, V-Zones range from 200 to 400 feet in width, and V-Zone wave <br />crest elevations range from 12 to 15 feet NGVD. <br /> <br />1-3 <br /> <br />HURR'CANE OPAL IN FLOR'DA <br />