Ivan's legacy: Coast is better prepared - al.com

Ivan's legacy: Coast is better prepared - al.com: "FIVE YEARS ago, much of Pleasure Island was smashed to pieces, the Flora-Bama was wrecked and Chuckie the zoo alligator was running loose.

In Pensacola, things were even worse. When Hurricane Ivan jogged eastward at the last minute and came in over Gulf Shores, it put the northwest Florida city on the most damaging side of the 2004 storm.

Five years later, on this Sept. 16 anniversary of Hurricane Ivan, coastal Alabama residents can pause to remember the dead and take stock of the lessons they learned, including:"