‘RIDE, SALLY, RIDE’
Royal resident recounts riding out Hurricane Sally
As hurricane season winds down, a Royal resident recently recalled her encounter with an unexpectedly powerful Hurricane Sally last month.
Rucina Johnson was in Orange Beach, Ala., to take care of her condo.
“Hadn’t been in months, and by the time I got there I was just doing the freshening up you have to do and fixing up after you’ve had some rentals,” she said.
She had been there for a week, and her birthday was coming up the next day. That would also happen to be the day that Hurricane Sally would make landfall early in the morning.
“The hurricane came; Sally, ‘ Ride, Sally, Ride.’ I did it; was 16 years exactly to the day from Ivan, and Hurricane Ivan was the last hurricane that destroyed Orange Beach,” said Johnson.
As far as Johnson knew, Sally was only a Category 1 hurricane. She had been through three Category 1 hurricanes down there already.
“And they kept saying it was still only going to be 65 to 85 mph winds and I was like, ‘Eh, that’s not a problem,’” she said.
Johnson said the wind was roaring the whole day before the hurricane hit. As night fell, she got nervous and went to a back bedroom to keep the sound out, shutting the doors.
“I kept laying there and I was like ‘OK, this doesn’t sound like a one to me,’” she said.
That’s because it wasn’t. According to the National Hurricane Center, Sally had strengthened to a Category 2 around midnight.
“I have an alarm and it came off saying ‘All occupants, please exit your unit.’ And I thought the wind was so strong, I didn’t think I could even open my door to exit the unit,” she said.
Johnson said she spent much of the night cleaning up water leaking into her condo. She said her power went out at around 2:30 a.m.
“To be there alone, I had one other girlfriend that lives there full time, and she is very concerned with COVID, and so we had been talking on the phone. She didn’t want to have contact,” said Johnson. “And the whole time I was like ‘I sure wish we could be together instead of sitting here by myself.’”
She said it was obvious when the eye of the storm was passing over her.
“Then when the eye came over and how absolutely quiet it was, was, and still, was enough to just stir me, ” she said.
She said the back half of the storm finally passed, and she was able to get a little sleep. At about 6:30 a.m., she took a look outside.
“That’s when I realized, oh my God, you know, this was big, and, I mean a dock was in front of my building that had come in from Ono Island, it had just, you know, the sign was even up there going ‘Ono Island Marina’ and it was just right outside my door and I was like, ‘Oh, crap,’” said Johnson.
According to The Weather Channel, Hurricane Sally made landfall early Wednesday morning, Sept. 16, in the nearby city of Gulf Shores, Ala. This is the same day and place Hurricane Ivan made landfall, exactly 16 years earlier.
Johnson said she’s thankful her complex added new protections after Hurricane Ivan, such as a retaining wall.
She said she had considered moving to a different neighborhood, but she’s glad she rode the storm out where she did. She said she could feel her building swaying through the night, but she knew it had survived a Category 4.
“Being in a concrete tower that was well maintained and well built, I will do it in a heartbeat,” she said.
“God is very powerful, and how to control the wind and the waves, and just prayer keeps you safe, ‘cause I know that’s what it was.”
The Sentinel- Record spoke with Johnson after the initial interview to ask if she had any advice for those who may find themselves in a storm’s path as hurricane season continues. Watch her response, as well as her description of the night Hurricane Sally hit, in the related video.