Heartbreak and devastation in Pensacola after Sally: Residents begin to venture out – Pensacola News Journal

Heartbreak and devastation: Residents begin to venture out

There was little standing water along Nine Mile Road, but debris littered the area and surrounding residential roads. Signs above businesses were twisted and shredded like sheets of paper, and along thoroughfares like Chemstrand and Roberts roads lines of cars took turns navigating around downed trees and dangling powerlines.

In Cantonment, residents of the Bristol Park area saw a heartbreaking repeat of flooding that devasted the area in 2014. The Escambia County Sheriffs Office, National Guard and Escambia County Fire Rescue spent much of the morning using high water vehicles to rescue people in homes in area.

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Nearby, emergency responders blocked off access to Highway 297-A near Corral Drive and Ashbury Lane. A small lake had formed just outside at the nearby Ashbury Hills neighborhood, forcing commuters hoping to check on their loved ones and properties to find another way home.

Brandon Anderson, a resident of the Oak Lodge Mobile Home Park, brought out chainsaws Wednesday morning to help take a part massive trees blocking the entrance to the park on Lillian Highway.

Soon, he had more than a dozen neighbors helping the effort.

Thankfully they just came out and and started joining us, Anderson said.

During the worst of the storm, Anderson said he saw flashes of light, what he thought to be power lines snapping.

I felt my house shaking. Theres a lot of light blasts, its a little scary, he said.

He said his home sustained no serious damage, unlike many of his other neighbors, one of which had a tree land on their home.

Kenneth McElory said he woke up at 4 a.m. to screaming winds and green flashes of light around his house.

The next thing he knew, a massive tree fell into his living room.

Another tree fell on his car before he could escape.

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McElroy said that besides feeling homelesss, he was optimistic that things would get better - someday, if not today.

You cant get down on yourself, it willmake it worse, he said. At least everybody is accounted for.

McElroy said that despite the tragedies that seem to be piling upon top of each other in 2020, he has hope.

A pandemic, and a hurricane, whats next? he said. Sunny days and good times.

The neighborhood surrounding Lillian Highway had many trees down and blocked roads Wednesday as well as no power.

Lillian Food Mart, a convenience store in the neighborhood, did open despite having no power. Dozens lined up to get snacks, drinks and ice.

One of those was Austin Jordan, who said he came out Wednesday morning looking for food. He said he wasnt prepared for the storm because he didnt know how bad it would be.

He said he heard loud banging and wind howling, but his home sustained minimal damage.

Emerald Coast Utilities Authority is reporting that 60% of its water wells are down from Hurricane Sally.

ECUA Executive Director Bruce Woody said a morning press conference that water customers may see lower water pressure.

Water has been cut off to Pensacola Beach after a water main to Santa Rosa Island broke.

Woody didnt have an estimate for when water service would be restored.

No boil water notices have been issued yet.

Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said there are unconfirmed reports that a section of Three Mile Bridge is missing. He is warning all residents to stay away from the bridge at this time.

Photographs posted on social media are showing damage to the surface of the Pensacola Bay Bridge. The images indicate a crane fell on the bridge and knocked away a section of the road way.

The Florida Department of Transportation said it has been unable to assess any possible damage to the bridge due to ongoing high winds. A spokesperson for the department said crews will be dispatched to assess the situation once conditions are safer.

Flooding in downtown Pensacola, Florida on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020. This was filmed on Jefferson at the Holiday Inn Express and Pensacola Little Theatre. Cars are almost completely submerged. People are standing on the hotel porch trapped. Pensacola News Journal

Much of downtown Pensacola was underwater Wednesday morning, with floodwaters turning streets into white-capped rivers and downed trees bookending Palafox Street.

Downtown was mostly empty, save for police officers and a few brave onlookers.

Nick Zangari, owner of New York Nicks Badlands bar, was sitting in the doorway of his dark, empty bar on Palafox looking out into the street. Zangari has been at the bar since Monday, saying he wanted to keep an eye on his building. But he didnt expect things to get as bad as they did overnight Tuesday.

I have a generator, AC unit, everything back at home (in Tiger Point), he said. But I didnt think Id need it.

On the 16th anniversary to the day of Hurricane Ivan, Zangari said Ivan may have been strong than Sally, but it packed more of a punch because it was so unexpectedly strong.

With Ivan we were more prepared, because it was coming right for us, he said. Nobody thought this was coming for us, and we didnt think it would be this strong.

A few blocks down, on Jefferson Street, floodwaters were submerging cars around the Holiday Inn Express and Pensacola Little Theatre. The floodwaters looked more like the Gulf of Mexico as winds tossed the water around.

People could be seen standing on the porch of the hotel, trapped and looking out over the water that used to be a parking lot.

The city of Gulf Breeze is reporting a water main break somewhere within city limits and citing an "immediate need" for citizens to conserve drinking water.

Escambia County Fire Rescue, National Guard and the Sheriffs Office are actively working on water rescues and life saving measures in the Bristol Park and Woods area that has 269 homes. We are working with FEMA, Urban Search & Rescue and engaging the Coast Guard.

Santa County officials are getting their first images of devastation caused by Hurricane Sally and it's every bit as bad as predicted.Emergency vehicles are only responding to high water calls, due to the high wind and the excessive rain.

"We are starting to see the impacts of the heavier eyewall cells that are coming through," wrote Santa Rosa Public Safety Director Brad Baker. "We are seeing higher winds and heavier rainfall than we've seen in the last few hours."

The county is reporting roadways flooding andmore tree and power lines down and requests residents to stay home.

"If you are home, we are having some increased water levels in the Bay area, so if you are trapped in your house and the water is rising, please call 911," Baker said. "Other than that we ask you to please stay home."

President Donald Trump has approved federal emergency aid for 13 Florida counties impacted by Hurricane Sally.

The authorization clears the release of personnel, resources and funding from the Federal Emergency Management Agency.

Emergency protective measures (Category B), including direct federal assistance under the Public Assistance program, will be provided at 75% federal funding. This assistance is for Bay, Escambia, Holmes, Okaloosa, Santa Rosa, Walton and Washington counties.

Public Assistance (Category B) emergency protective measures, limited to direct federal assistance, will be provided at 75% federal funding. This assistance is for Calhoun, Franklin, Gadsden, Gulf, Jackson and Liberty counties.

According to FEMA, Category B emergency protective measures are actions taken by a community before, during and following a disaster to save lives, protect public health and safety, or eliminate immediate threat of significant damage to improved public and private property through cost effective measures.

Jeffrey L. Coleman has been named as the Federal Coordinating Officer for federal response operations in the affected area.

National Weather Service inMobile reporteda trained spotter estimated 30 inches of rain in NorthwestPensacola. NAS Pensacola recorded 24.8 inches of rain and wind gusts up to 92 miles per hour.

NWS reports5.5 feet of storm surge in Pensacola Bay and two hours of high tide are ahead of us. Penascola is getting the worst of the surge.

Jimmy Patronis,Florida's chief financial officer andstate fire marshal, announced Wednesday morning that he has deployed three urban search and rescue teams to respond to widespread flooding in our area. Patronis said he will also be headed to our region this morning to meet with emergency response officials and determine what type of support they need.

East Pensacola Heights gets hammered with heavy rain and wind as Hurricane Sally hits Pensacola. Pensacola News Journal

Hurricane Sally made landfall this morning just west of the Florida/Alabama line as a Category 2 with 105 mph winds.

This put Pensacola in the eastern eye-wall, the strongest part of the storm, according to an advisory fromEscambia County's emergency manager to the Santa Rosa Island Authority. In addition, the next strongest rain/wind band has set up over Okaloosa and Walton counties.

A Flash Flood Emergency is ongoing from Pensacola to Ft. Walton Beach. Historic river flooding will also occur over the next couple of days.

Conditions will remain unchanged this morning due to the slow movement of the storm. It will likely be around 1 p.m. before we begin to see some weakening of winds and rain bands as the center of Sally moves into southern Alabama.

The south and west side of the storm is considerably weaker,howeverintermittent heavy rain bands, a few tornadoesand tropical storm force wind gusts will continue into this evening in the eastern Panhandle and western Big Bend.

There is widespread flooding and debris on roads across the area. Citizens are advised to remain in place and to stay off the roads as much as possible.

Interstate 10, eastbound and westbound, at the Escambia Bay Bridge is closed due to high sustained winds. The Three Mile Bridge, Theo Baars Bridgeand theLillian Bridgeremains closed as well, according to the Escambia County Sheriff's Office.

Gulf Power reported just before 6:30 a.m. that 72 percent of the household accounts in Escambia County were without power as rain and wind continued to hammer the Pensacola area. As of 6:30 a.m., 115,377 homes were without power.

Live: Power outage map

Pensacola is expected to get raked by Hurricane Sallys eyewall over the next several early morning hours, bringing unprecedented amounts of rain and Category 2-strength winds to the already battered western Florida Panhandle.

The slow-moving storm, which reportedly made landfall near Gulf Shores, Alabama just after5 a.m. Wednesday, surprised forecasters by strengthening into a very strong Category 2 storm overnight, with winds at 110 miles per hour just one mile per hour away from being a Category 3 major hurricane.

It got really close to a Category 3, said Dave Eversole, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Mobile. Were hoping that we see actual landfall probably somewhere along the Baldwin coast here around sunrise, and that would keep (Pensacola) in or very close to the eyewall for at least a few more hours.

Hurricane Sally is seen in this satellite image as of Wednesday morning at 5 a.m.(Photo: NOAA)

Part of the eye came ashore near Gulf Shores, Alabama just before 5 a.m.

Rainfall reports in Pensacola topped 18.25 inches as of 1 a.m., prompting a rare flash flood emergency warning from the National Weather Service.

Flash flood emergency is a rare (warning) issued by the NWS, its when we have a flash flood that is posing a significant risk to lives and property, Eversole said. That means theres people out there literally pulling people out of homes and rescuing people out of cars. Its right along with a tornado emergency, its one of our two most serious warnings.

There were several tornado warnings issued from Escambia to Bay Counties overnight Tuesday, although there have been no confirmed tornadoes yet. That is expected to change in the morning as people are able to leave their homes and assess damage.

The Pensacola Police Department tweeted at 1:48 a.m. that there are too many road issues to count.

Flooded roadways and intersections, along with hazardous debris in roadways (locations) have become too numerous to list, PPD said. Please stay off the roadways now. If you lose electricity and have a generator, do not place it inside, near an open window or in a garage. This can be deadly.

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Parts of downtown Pensacola are flooding as well. Videos posted to social media show East Main Street by the Holiday Inn Express turned into a river, and Mike Wood with PPD said floodwaters are beginning to creep up Palafox Street.

Im with The Weather Channel, they were set up at Palafox Pier but that's now flooding, Wood said. Its making its way up Palafox now. Its nothing major yet, but theres a lot of high winds and rain right now.

All bridges in the area are closed due to high sustained winds, including the Three Mile Bride, Garcon Point Bridge and Navarre Beach Causeway.

Sallys path and landfall is eerily similar to Hurricane Ivans, which made landfall on the same day Sept. 16 in 2004, 16 years ago, in nearly the exact same place that Sally is projected to land. Ivan was a stronger Category 3 storm and devastated the area.

Even after the eyewall passes, Pensacola is still slated to receive torrential amounts of rain as the system makes a very slow crawl to the north/northeast.

Tevin Wooten, an on-air meteorologist with The Weather Channel, compared Sallys speed to that of a turtle as he battled the 2 mile per hour storm from Navarre.

A turtle swims at about 10 to 12 miles per hour. Turtles crawl, or walk if you will, between 3 and 4 miles per hour, he said. So Sally, quite literally, is moving at a turtles pace, if not slower.

Sally has been an unusual storm due in part to the uncertainty in her path and intensity. She was originally forecast to make landfall near New Orleans, then Mississippi, then Mobile Bay, and now, finally, shes partially come ashore near Gulf Shores and is expected to completely come ashore around Baldwin County.

Annie Blanks can be reached at ablanks@pnj.com or 850-435-8632.

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Heartbreak and devastation in Pensacola after Sally: Residents begin to venture out - Pensacola News Journal