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Hurricane Sally toppled boats and ripped walls and roofs from structures along Florida’s panhandle and Alabama Gulf Coast.

USA TODAY

PENSACOLA, Fla. — After Hurricane Sally drenched Alabama and Florida with more than 2 feet of rain in some areas, local officials say the storm caused at least $29 million of damage in Florida’s Escambia County and Pensacola alone.

A second storm-related death in Alabama was confirmed while rescuers in Florida called off a search for a missing boater that would mark the state’s first death from Sally. More than 320,000 businesses and homes are still without power, too.

Rescuers have had to use high-water vehicles to reach those trapped by Sally’s floods, and more flooding may be on its way through the weekend with overflowing rivers and streams, the National Weather Service said.

The remnants of Sally on Friday prompted some coastal flood warnings in Virginia and Maryland around the Chesapeake Bay. The storm crawled ashore Wednesday as a slow-moving, powerful Category 2 storm near Gulf Shores, Alabama.

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As Sally lurched through the Alabama-Florida border, it soaked the area with torrential rains, battered buildings and boats and made the streets of Pensacola look like rivers. Thirty inches fell in Orange Beach, Alabama, and in isolated areas of Florida, the Weather Service said.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said the state is pouring hundreds of thousands of resources into the northwest part of the state, including gasoline, generators, ambulance crews, food and drinking water.

For right now, “We have all hands on deck,” DeSantis said. “We want to make sure to continue to keep people safe.”

“While it could be much worse, it’s been mighty bad,” added Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey.

Coast Guard calls off search for boater feared dead

The U.S. Coast Guard has ended its search for a Pensacola boater who went missing the day that Hurricane Sally struck.

Brandon William Nicholson, 27, was last seen Wednesday morning, and U.S. Coast Guard spokesman Petty Officer Third Class Carlos Galarza told the Pensacola News Journal that the search for Nicholson was suspended Thursday evening.

“The reason he departed from his area is because he had a pontoon boat that was taken away by the storm,” Galarza said. In an attempt to recover his pontoon boat, Nicholson chased the runaway vessel in a 12-foot Jon boat.

The U.S. Coast Guard conducted shoreline searches and six overflight searches for Nicholson to no avail before calling off its search efforts, according to Galarza. Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan said Friday it would be the county’s first Sally-related death.

– Colin Warren-Hicks, Pensacola News Journal

‘Get out the Greek alphabet’: Tropical storm Wilfred forms in Atlantic followed by Alpha near Portugal

Well, that was fast.

Hours after the National Weather Service announced Friday that tropical storm Wilfred had formed in the eastern Atlantic Ocean, subtropical storm Alpha neared Portugal.

Once Wilfred officially reached tropical storm status Friday, it became the last storm with a name from the official list of 21 used by the National Hurricane Center in 2020.

“Get out the Greek alphabet for the rest of 2020,” forecasters said in their update on Wilfred’s formation. Not long after, Alpha officially became the first named storm using Greek letters for 2020.

Wilfred is about 630 miles west-southwest of the Cabo Verde Islands but is expected to weaken this weekend as it continues its path west-northwest, while Alpha is expected to be short-lived but soak parts of Portugal with 1 to 2 inches of rain.

Only once before have forecasters relied on the Greek alphabet, during the hyperactive 2005 season wound up using six Greek names.

2nd Sally-related death reported in Alabama

A second death in Alabama tied to the storm was reported Friday.

Baldwin County coroner Dr. Brian Pierce said the person who died was involved in storm cleanup efforts in Foley. No other details were available.

The first death tied to Hurricane Sally occurred Wednesday in Baldwin County in an apparent drowning.

Sally remnants prompt flood warnings in Virginia, Maryland

The remnants of Sally showered parts of the mid-Atlantic, causing coastal flood warnings in southeastern Virginia and Maryland’s Eastern Shore on Friday.

“Heavy rain from the remnants of Tropical Cyclone Sally will result in flooding along the Chickahominy River,” the National Weather Service in Wakefield, Virginia said.

Other rivers near Norfolk and Hampton, Virginia, were also experiencing minor flooding Friday.

West Pensacola residents left to pick up the pieces after Sally

Residents at Warrington’s Forest Creek Apartments know that even a mild storm could — and has — resulted in several feet of standing water and extensive property damage. So when a storm the magnitude of Hurricane Sally barreled through Pensacola, the renters at the flood-prone apartments knew it would be a life-changing affair.

“In 2015, I lost everything and now I’m about to lose everything again,” said 55-year-old Karen Robinson, who said she’s experienced at least four floods at the Forest Creek complex since 2012. 

Robinson stayed at a relative’s house Tuesday, just ahead of Sally’s landfall. When she returned Wednesday, she came home to chest-high waters outside of her front door and at least 3 feet of water inside the unit. 

Her refrigerator was overturned by water, and most of her furniture and living room items were beyond salvation. Like many other tenants at Forest Creek, she’s spent much of the past 24 hours packing her sedan with as many clothes, shoes and food as she can. 

“Just going back to save what I can save,” Robinson said.

– Jake Newby, Pensacola News Journal

Man stuck under bridge saved by kayaker in Perdido Key, Fla.

In five years aboard the Tropical Hideaway Too, Jerry Ash has ridden out some bad storms before, but Hurricane Sally was different.  “No one thought it would be like this,” said Ash, who anchored at the Perdido Key RV Resort and Marina.

The man stuck on the pillar under the Theo Baars Bridge certainly wasn’t expecting it either. 

The trapped man had been on a boat anchored at the neighboring marina on the other side of the bridge when it broke loose and capsized, Ash would come to learn. The man’s only option was to cling to the underside of the bridge, all night as the hurricane passed with Category 2 force winds and relentless rain.

“I knew if I could get to my boat, I could get to him,” Ash said. “So I came out here, grabbed my kayak and about 500 feet of rope and went out.”

Ash paddled out to get the man the rope, then several onshore helped pull him in. The man had a dislocated shoulder and was understandably shaken up. “Could you imagine? He was out there all night in just shorts,” Ash said. 

“But man, I bet he’s got a story to tell,” Ash added. “I just wish I knew his name.”

– Kirsten Fiscus, Pensacola News Journal

New tropical depression forms in Gulf

Tropical Depression 22 has formed in the western Gulf of Mexico and is expected to become a Category 1 hurricane before reaching the coast of Mexico or Texas next week. 

The depression could become a tropical storm Friday. National Hurricane Center forecasters said the would-be storm’s ultimate path is difficult to forecast because of its slow forward momentum.

– Kimberly Miller, Palm Beach Post

‘He’s a monster!’: Video shows alligator swimming outside home

For one family, it wasn’t the flooding waters that kept them indoors during Hurricane Sally — it was the large alligator swimming outside their home. In the street.

“Y’all look at that alligator. This is right outside the window!” Tina Bennett, a resident of Gulf Shores, Alabama, says in a 30-second clip she posted to YouTube. “It is a 10- or 12-foot alligator. He’s going into the neighbor’s driveway. This is why we don’t want to go outside out here on the island. And there’s many more.

“Oh, he is a monster. Oh, gee,” she says.

– Jennifer Sangalang, Pensacola News Journal

More than 320,000 are still without power

More than 320,000 customers were still without power Friday morning in Alabama and Florida, according to the tracker poweroutage.us.

Gulf Power in Florida estimates that power will be restored to the 95% of customers that can accept power in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties by Tuesday.

Out of the eight counties that it services in the Florida Panhandle, Escambia and Santa Rosa counties were the two counties hardest hit by outages caused by the hurricane. 

Early assessments show $29M in damage to roads, public buildings in Escambia County, Pensacola

More than 24 hours after Hurricane Sally made landfall, nearly $29 million of damage has been assessed to public infrastructure in Escambia County and Pensacola, but that number is likely to grow.

Officials from both Escambia County and the city of Pensacola have been out making initial assessments of damage to roads, bridges and public buildings. In just the first day, Escambia County has found at least $21 million in damage to public infrastructure, according to county spokeswoman Laura Coale.

Meanwhile, Pensacola has found at least $7.9 million in damage in the city limits.

Pensacola Bay Bridge may be out of commission for a month

After a crane aboard a barge crashed into the Pensacola Bay Bridge on Wednesday, destroying a section of the bridge’s surface, the bridge may be closed for a month or more.

DeSantis said his understanding was that Skanska, a construction company, had opted not to move the equipment out of the area because of forecasts indicating Sally wouldn’t have a major impact in the Florida Panhandle. However, multiple construction barges broke free from their docks during the hurricane.

“I’d much rather have more precautions taken and then not have to use up resources (after the fact),” DeSantis said.

Florida Sen. Doug Broxson estimated it would be 30 to 60 days before the bridge, among just a handful of arteries between Escambia and Santa Rosa counties, is open again.

‘IN ATTIC HELP:’ Florida couple rescued from flooded home by Jet Ski

The firetrucks and rescue vehicles kept passing her flooded house in Cantonment, Florida, even after Elaine Hulgan, 76, wrote, “IN ATTIC HELP” on the front door, so Hulgan’s 84-year-old husband resorted to his best emergency signal: an ear-splitting whistle. The noise rose above the din, and a firefighter on a Jet Ski soon rescued the couple and their two dogs off the front stoop of their brick home.

The Florida couple were trapped in their home after Hurricane Sally lumbered ashore Wednesday morning.

Now comes the tough part for Elaine and Jack Hulgan – filing insurance claims, dealing with two flooded cars, finding temporary housing and waiting to get home.

Residents of a flood-prone neighborhood north of Pensacola since 1993, the Hulgans know what to do during a big storm. They’ve been flooded twice before and forced into the attic once.

“I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Elaine Hulgan said.

‘Tremendous damage’ to one Alabama county from Sally

An official for an Alabama county just east of Mobile Bay said the county suffered “tremendous damage” from Hurricane Sally.

Jenni Guerry, deputy director of emergency management for Baldwin County, said Thursday at a news briefing that search crews were trying to make sure people are accounted for and taking them to safety when needed.

Trees and power lines are down throughout the county, one of Alabama’s largest with about 225,000 people. In a social media post, the county said there are many traffic lights still out, which has led to “collisions and a lot of near misses.”

Contributing: John Bacon, USA TODAY; Annie Blanks, Pensacola News Journal; The Associated Press

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