Hurricane Sally's rains wreak havoc on southeastern U.S. states
Send a link to a friend
[September 18, 2020]
By Devika Krishna Kumar and Catherine Koppel
PERDIDO KEY, Fla. (Reuters) - The remnants
of Hurricane Sally dumped more than a foot of rain over the U.S.
Southeast on Thursday, killed at least one person, washed out bridges
and roads and left hundreds of thousands without power and others with
ruined homes.
Sally brought torrential rains and flash flooding to Alabama and Georgia
as it sped toward the Carolinas. At 5 p.m. CDT (2200 GMT), it was about
70 miles (115 km) northeast of Augusta, Georgia, moving northeast toward
the Atlantic Ocean at 24 miles (39 km) per hour, the U.S. National
Hurricane Center said.
JJ McNelis, 64, who co-owns a real estate office in Florida's Perdido
Key, tried to salvage equipment and personal items, including pictures
of his children, after the hurricane ripped away the building's roof and
flung it into neighboring property.
"We anticipated a hurricane," he said. "We didn't expect a direct hit.
We thought we'd show up the next day and have a building standing but lo
and behold, that's not the case."
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Sep/18/images/ads/current/stclara_lda_SPONSOR_090519.png)
He said he had already decided against rebuilding: "Somebody else can
have this. It's jinxed now."
Sally struck Gulf Shores, Alabama, early Wednesday with winds of 105
miles per hour, killing one person. Another person was reported missing.
Some areas were inundated with more than 2 feet (60 cm) of rain.
Pensacola, Florida, east of landfall, experienced up to 5 feet of
flooding, and damaged roads and bridges limited travel across the
region. Some 433,000 homes and businesses in Alabama, Georgia and
Florida remained without power.
RUINED HOMES
Lee Hayes, 56, a security officer, held her dog Rico close as she
recounted losing an entire side wall of her home in Perdido Key
overnight.
She had been ready to leave at any moment, her kayak on her couch
inside, both she and her dog wearing life jackets.
"I'm like: 'okay, we're not going to drown, we're not going to drown,'"
she said. She recalled going outside to check the water surging beneath
her deck. "The door slammed and locked. It was just such a force the
whole wall blew out. I couldn't get back in. It was really scary."
In Florida, there have been no deaths but 120 people were rescued by
state emergency workers and National Guard members with boats and high
water vehicles. Officials were conducting evaluating bridges for damage
in the state's Panhandle, said Governor Ron DeSantis.
[to top of second column]
|
![](../images/091820pics/news_g15.jpg)
A car drives through a flooded street after Hurricane Sally swept
through Orange Beach, Alabama, U.S., September 17, 2020.
REUTERS/Kathleen Flynn
![](../images/ads/current/fitzpatrick_lda_SPONSOR_2017.png)
Utility crews and residents made repairs and cleared storm debris
after Sally washed out roads and bridges and left dozens of boats
pushed ashore.
Fuel prices rose again on Thursday as six U.S. refineries were
offline and OPEC promised to crack down on members that produced
more than their allotment. Gasoline futures rose 3% to near the high
for the month.
Utilities began restoring power to Alabama and Florida with crews
brought from far-flung states.
“This year we’ve just got hurricane after hurricane,” said Matt
Lane, 23, a member of a crew from New Hampshire Electric Co-op who
arrived on Tuesday from Hurricane Laura recovery efforts in Texas.
ANOTHER STORM BREWING
Sally was the 18th named storm in the Atlantic this year and the
eighth of tropical storm of hurricane strength to hit the United
States.
A tropical disturbance was brewing in the southern Gulf of Mexico on
Thursday that has a 90% chance of becoming a cyclone in the next 48
hours. Two other named storms were in the Atlantic, making this one
of the most active Atlantic hurricane seasons on record.
Energy companies were returning Gulf of Mexico offshore oil crews
and assessing damages to coastal facilities. Several said their
facilities weathered the storm and were preparing to restart.
(Reporting by Devika Krishna-Kumar and Catherine Koppel in Mobile,
Alabama, and Perdido Key, Florida; Additional reporting by Jennifer
Hiller in Houston and Stephanie Kelly and Scott DiSavino in New York
and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Editing by Steve Orlofsky, Timothy
Gardner, Marguerita Choy and David Gregorio)
[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2020/Sep/18/images/ads/current/bennett_lda_123015.png) |