So Sally Reality on the Ground

Hello from Cantonment Florida

Well since Sally came right over our farm about 30 miles from the coast I guess Im qualified to file this report.

Well first the shocker 24 hours before Sally landed on Perdido Key it was predicted to land in Biloxo oh um about 100+ miles west of here. Lesson learned dont trust weather reports. I knew plans include the statement if its supposed to land with 150 miles plan on it hitting you.

Okay first well almost 100% of power was knocked out in Escambia and Santa Rosa Counties. In Cantonment were we are it was 100% and no cell phones we couldnt even text. 31 inches of rain in 4 hours. Well our 7 acre lake overflow pipes reached capacity in less then a hour, the emergency bypass soon filled with 8+ inches of water x 4ft, shortly thereafter the dam was overtopped to a depth of about 6 inches. Thank God the dam held. Our pier which under normal circumstances sit about 30 inches above water level was covered.

48 hours after the storm well as my son in law said its nuts out their. over 40% of the power poles in the county were damaged or destroyed. The estimate is that we should have power back in a week or so. The phones started working today around 11 am lol.

For most its a train wreck, for us well not a disaster, we have a 45kw diesel generator and about 1000 gallons of diesel. So as the rest of the town scrambles for gas and open grocery stores, we basically spent the last 2 days cleaning up and listening to the radio.

We went through Katrina and our house was destroyed with us in it, so I cant regale you with tails of horror because well yes we did have 100mph winds for a few hours but compared to Katrina it was a bad storm.

My wife must have said 10 times today the best thing we ever did was the diesel generator and a few 500 gallon tanks of diesel.

So thanks for all the prayers now its all about cleaning up and repairs.

God Bless

James