Hurricane Opal

Hurricane Opal was a hurricane that formed in the Gulf of Mexico in September 1995. Opal was the ninth hurricane and the strongest of the abnormally active 1995 Atlantic hurricane season. It crossed the Yucatán Peninsula while still a tropical depression from September 27, then strengthened northward in the Gulf, becoming the most powerful Category 4 Atlantic hurricane before making a second landfall, October 4, in the Florida Panhandle near Pensacola as a 115-mph (185-km/h) hurricane. Opal devastated the Pensacola/Panhandle area with a 15-ft (5-m) storm surge and travelled up the entire state of Alabama, becoming a tropical storm in Tennessee. Opal also caused heavy damage in the mid-Atlantic states before dissipating.

Throughout the storm's path from Central America into New England, a total of 63 people died in storm-related events. Losses attributed to Opal exceeded $3.5 billion, much of which took place in the United States. The name "Opal" was retired in 1996, replaced by "Olga" for the 2001 season.