Jan Wesner Childs
Husband and wife Elaine and Jack Hulgan were so scared, they climbed into their attic as Hurricane Sally brought feet of rain and storm surge to the Florida Panhandle on Wednesday.
The couple, who live in a flood-prone neighborhood near Pensacola, told the Associated Press they grabbed their two dogs and climbed the attic ladder after water began seeping under the door to their home.
Soon, they heard firefighters and rescue vehicles passing by. They ventured downstairs to spray paint a message on their front door that they needed help.
"When they kept going by and not seeing us, I told Jack, 'Jack, are the four of us going to die in this house?'" Elaine said.
"We were just scared. And Jack said, 'We'll just go back in the attic and stay there.' I said, 'Jack, I don’t want to die in the attic.' And he said, 'We aren’t going to die.'"
Finally, Jack used a special talent of his – described as an ear-splitting whistle – to signal rescuers. A firefighter on a Jet Ski picked them up.
The Hulgans were among hundreds of people evacuated from their homes by rescue teams that included firefighters, law enforcement officers, National Guard troops, the U.S. Coast Guard and volunteers in boats and high-water vehicles across coastal Alabama and Northwest Florida.
More than 400 rescues were conducted in Escambia County, where Pensacola is located. By Friday morning, much of the water had receded and everyone who needed rescue had been helped, county spokesperson Laura Coale told weather.com in a phone interview.
Among the last people stranded by the floodwaters in the area were Richard Wittig and his family. They were stuck on a tip of land in Perdido Bay known as Innerarity Point. Water covered the only road in, and Wittig, 77, told the AP both he and his son rely on oxygen machines.
"If I didn't have a working generator, we'd be dead," Wittig said. "Nobody can get to us."
First responders focused on that particular area of Escambia County Thursday.
Rescuers were still searching for a man who disappeared as the storm was moving through the area Wednesday. Brandon William Nicholson, 27, was last seen about 10:30 a.m. Wednesday in a green jon boat in a neighborhood near Perdido Bay north of U.S. Highway 98. The search for Nicholson was handed off to the Coast Guard on Thursday, the sheriff's office said.
Meanwhile, the number of deaths connected to Hurricane Sally and the storm's aftermath rose to four on Friday, as the coroner in Baldwin County, Alabama, announced one person there had died during storm cleanup. A person in Orange Beach, also in Baldwin County, had died during the storm. Two people were killed by falling trees in Atlanta as the remnants of Hurricane Sally moved across the Southeast.
More than 135,000 homes and businesses were still without power in the hardest-hit parts of Florida on Friday afternoon, according to poweroutage.us. Nearly 185,000 outages were still being reported in Alabama.
Baldwin EMC, an electricity provider in Baldwin County where the storm came ashore, said 17 of 22 substations were knocked out and more than 2,000 power poles toppled.
Devastated beach towns along Alabama's Gulf Coast were just beginning to assess the damage.
"It's been a horrific event over the last 24 hours," Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon said in an update posted to Facebook Thursday night.
Homes and businesses in the town were wiped out by wind and storm surge.
Back in Escambia County, Coale said the county was still getting calls from people asking for assistance, but none were urgent. Crews were going door-to-door in a more methodical matter to check on residents.
In a Friday morning press conference, Sheriff David Morgan said tempers were flaring and frustrations rising as people waited in long lines for gas and hoped for utilities to be turned back on soon. Morgan lashed out at those who stayed behind in vulnerable areas to "throw a hurricane party" rather than following advice to evacuate.
"Well, we’re in Day 3, you’ve probably sobered up at this point and you’ve decided this was a real bad mistake to hang in there and now you’re trapped at a place where you have no utilities, etc." Morgan said. "Call your relatives and let them know that you’re OK."
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
The Weather Company’s primary journalistic mission is to report on breaking weather news, the environment and the importance of science to our lives. This story does not necessarily represent the position of our parent company, IBM.
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