Rome News-Tribune

Hurricane Sally unleashes flooding, hundreds rescued

- By Jay Reeves, Angie Wang and Jeff Martin

PENSACOLA, Fla. — Hurricane Sally lumbered ashore near the Florida- Alabama line Wednesday with 105 mph winds and rain measured in feet, not inches, swamping homes and forcing the rescue of hundreds of people as it pushed inland for what could be a slow and disastrous drenching across the Deep South.

Moving at just 3 mph, or about as fast as a person can walk, the storm made landfall at 4: 45 a. m. close to Gulf Shores, Alabama, about 30 miles from Pensacola, Florida. It accelerate­d to a light jog as it battered the Pensacola and Mobile, Alabama, metropolit­an areas encompassi­ng nearly 1 million people.

Sally cast boats onto land or sank them at the dock, flattened palm trees, peeled away roofs, blew down signs and knocked out power to more than 540,000 homes and businesses. A replica of Christophe­r Columbus’ ship the Nina that had been docked at the Pensacola waterfront was missing, police said.

Sally tore loose a bargemount­ed constructi­on crane, which then smashed into the new Three Mile Bridge over Pensacola Bay, causing a section of the year-old span to collapse, authoritie­s said. The storm also ripped away a large section of a fishing pier at Alabama’s Gulf State Park on the very day a ribbon-cutting had been scheduled following a $2.4 million renovation.

By the afternoon, authoritie­s in Escambia County, which includes Pensacola, said at least 377 people had been rescued from flooded areas. More than 40 people trapped by high water were brought to safety within a single hour, including a family of four found in a tree, Sheriff David Morgan said.

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