                             THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT 
              Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: Sunday, October 15, 1995               TAG: 9510130138
SECTION: DAILY BREAK              PAGE: E12  EDITION: FINAL 
                                             LENGTH: Short :   40 lines

OPAL'S CROOKED WAKE THE HURRICANE THAT SLAMMED THE FLORIDA PANHANDLE THIS MONTH LEFT BEHIND A WORLD TURNED TOPSY-TURVY

ILLUSTRATION: Color photos

MOTOYA NAKAMURA/The Virginian-Pilot

Right: Many houses at Navarre Beach were demolished when Hurricane

Opal hit the Florida Panhandle on Oct. 5. Others were almost

untouched.

Below: The storm, with winds gusting to 144 mph, deposited a yacht

on the front lawn of St. Simons Episcopal Church at Fort Walton

Beach.

Above: A member of a rescue team from Hampton Roads crosses the

jagged landscape at Navarre Beach, which took the full force of the

storm.

Above right: The hurricane blew the deck off the back of a house at

Navarre Beach. Hundreds of homes and businesses were destroyed.

Right: Navarre Beach residents clean up the rubble. Opal killed 20

people in four states and caused almost $2 billion in insured

losses.

KEYWORDS: HURRICANES HURRICANE OPAL FLORIDA

DAMAGE by CNB