COLUMBUS, Ga. (WRBL)-Today marks the 30th anniversary of Hurricane Opal. Opal caused widespread damage across the south, including here in Columbus.

Opal Forms: Opal began as a weak tropical disturbance near Mexico on September 27th. Extremely warm waters in the Gulf would cause the system to rapidly intensify into a Category 4 Hurricane with winds of 150 mph (just below Category 5 intensity). Opal would make landfall as a major Category 3 storm in Pensacola, Florida, the morning of October 4th, 1995.

Evacuations: Because the storm intensified so close to making landfall, Hurricane Warnings were only posted at 11 PM the night before landfall. Many Gulf Coast residents evacuated last minute. Many were stranded on the interstate and could not evacuate in time.

Local Impacts: Opal weakened

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