PART V: POSTSTORM INSPECTION 



13. A poststorm survey of high-water marks resulting from Hurricane 

 Elena was made during the period of 6-8 September 1985. The survey included 

 the reach of coastline from Bay St. Louis, Miss., to Panama City, Fla. The 

 westernmost extent of the surge-induced flooding appeared to be in the vicin- 

 ity of Clermont Harbor, Miss., southwest of Bay St. Louis. The level of the 

 high-water marks did not exceed +5 ft NGVD. 



14. Trash lines remained all around the shores of Biloxi Bay. On the 

 eastern side of the bay at the location of the Biloxi fishing bridge (the rem- 

 nant of the old Highway 90 bridge) , the surge washed across part of a shore- 

 front road. Photo 1 shows this trash line being surveyed. The elevation of 

 the surge induced flooding did not exceed +3 ft NGVD at this point. 



15. Between Biloxi Bay and Pascagoula Bay, 15 miles to the east, the 

 elevation of the high-water mark was about +6 ft NGVD. At the location of the 

 Mississippi Gulf Coast Research Lab on Davis Bayou (southeast of Ocean 

 Springs, Miss.), the high water overtopped the docks and bulkheads around a 

 small-boat harbor (Photo 2) . A large amount of debris was left at the +5-f t 

 NGVD line, but there was minimal flooding at the laboratory facilities. 



16. The hardest hit area on the coast was Dauphin Island, Ala., which 

 was directly in the path of the hurricane's track just prior to landfall. 

 There was extensive wind damage all over the island, but the majority of the 

 damage caused by the surge was seen on the western half of the island where 

 the surge passed completely over the island at a number of locations. This 

 resulted in gullying which damaged roads (Photo 3) and undermined the founda- 

 tions of houses (Photo 4) . The high-water mark at these locations measured 

 +6.5 ft NGVD. The small-boat harbor on the northeast side of the island suf- 

 fered very little structural damage, but some of the boats were damaged or 

 sunk when they broke free of their moorings (Photo 5). The only major surge- 

 induced damage on the eastern end of the island occurred at Pelican Point 

 where the deck of the wooden pier supporting the NOS/CE surge gage was de- 

 stroyed (Photo 6). The high-water level at this location was about +6.7 ft 

 NGVD with wave runup heights exceeding +8.0 ft NGVD. 



17. The amount of surge related damage within Mobile Bay was minimal, 

 with most locations showing a measured high-water elevation of +4 ft NGVD or 

 less. Surge levels on the large spit protecting the eastern side of the 



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