OMG. Sally was here. That’s the name of the massive hurricane that made landfall in the exact fucking town I happen to be in--Pensacola, FL. What are the chances? I have been without water, electricity, and access to the internet, not to mention my phone has barely been working, only occasionally allowing me to send texts to say I’m OK, which I am– sort of. And sort of not at the same time.
The night of Hurricane Sally, things got really dicey really fast. If you missed my previous post, my cousins that I came to Pensacola to be near are out of town having major surgery. The hurricane had not been headed in that direction originally, so no one in Pensacola, Florida had been prepared for what was about to happen.
My cousin asked me if I could drive out to their place on the other side of town and keep an eye on things during the storm. Their swimming pool is just a few feet away from the living room and could flood the house if it overflowed, so I might need to pump out some water from the pool if it became necessary. Their request was so precautionary at that point that they kept second-guessing whether to even ask me. But I found a gap in my remote meeting schedule for work and drove out to their house just in case.
I didn’t bring much with me, assuming I’d just be heading home in the morning, and my cousins already removed any fresh foods from the house before they left town. We all chatted on video, and they walked me through how to operate their pool pump, which seemed manageable enough, and then I resumed my work day from the comfort of their lovely home, cozy and warm while the rain was pouring outside.
As the day went on, the weather became much stronger, and it was pouring rain in buckets. The pool started filling to the brim with water, so every 45 minutes I ran outside to operate the pump and release a bunch of water from the pool, which drained through a long, flat rubber tube and into the street.
The news had come that Hurricane Sally changed course and was unexpectedly headed my way. Directly my way. I was completely by myself, ill-prepared, and had never been in this situation before. The pool was reaching the top limit again, so I ran outside to start the pump, only this time the pump wouldn’t start up for some reason. That was unexpected, and I tried to stay calm. It was pouring outside, and I was standing in front of the electronic keypad which I’d never laid eyes on before that day, and I had no idea what to do. I called my cousins to troubleshoot, only I could barely hear them on the other end. My phone became waterlogged because it was as if I were standing under the shower on the phone, and it kept cutting out every few seconds. I felt like I was in a bad horror movie, and none of it seemed even possible to me that this was happening. I’m from California.
Just as the pool was reaching its tipping point, either a miracle happened or I’m fucking awesome with electronics because I was able to get that pump started one last time before the electricity went out for good. I’m quite sure if it hadn’t been for that last water dump, things would have ended up much worse than they had.
That weird experience exhausted me, and I decided to take a quick snooze before the hurricane made its approach. I don’t know how long I had dozed off, but things started getting loud outside and I woke up. What I did not expect to happen, but did, is that when I stepped out of bed and onto the carpet, it would be flooded with water. I ran into the living room, where the swimming pool was adjacent, and saw the living room had taken on water on the hardwood floors. I grabbed bath towels, started moving furniture out of the way, and area rugs…holy shit.. I’m not even joking but the fucking power went out. And I was in the pitch dark with a flashlight in someone else’s home that is flooding, and I knew that there wasn’t much else that I could do.
I had nowhere else to go, so I quietly began gathering my things and went to a spare room at the front of the house. I opened up the window shade and hung a headlamp around my neck in the flashing mode so that I would be seen if anyone came looking. I knew I’d done everything I could in the situation, and I felt calm while surrendering to whatever would happen next.
My phone was still working at that point, so I was watching the news and literally saw Hurricane Sally make landfall on the weather satellite at the exact moment in time that I was experiencing it, which was one of the most mindblowing, surreal fucking things that has ever happened. The sounds outside were terrifying, and it felt like the roof was about to rip off, and the same for the garage door. I decided that I didn’t want to be awake any longer if that was an option. So I pulled the blanket over me, closed my eyes, and fell into a deep, deep sleep for the next 90 minutes. I had no idea if I was going to wake up and be floating in water when I next opened my eyes, or not wake up at all.
Light began shining through the window at 7 am and I was surprised to be alive. I could see people outside walking around to survey the damage, and I jumped up and rushed into the part of the house that had flooded, and was glad to find that they had not gotten any worse.
That’s when I got my first glance outside -- everyone’s fences had been obliterated, there was debris scattered everywhere. A trampoline that had been in someone’s yard was now impaled in somebody’s fence, and a portable toilet from a construction site had flown across the street onto someone’s property.
Fortunately, the water receded from one of the two rooms that had flooded, and I was able to clean it up. The other room was less awesome and needed to be gutted. Within a few hours, my cousin’s friends came by to help disassemble the bed, move the furniture, and rip up all of the carpeting from the water-soaked room so that only a cement floor remained. I napped much of the day, then walked around the neighborhood in a daze. Lots of damage everywhere. No one had fences. Trees on cars. Everyone is without power. Just awful.
The county imposed a 72-hour curfew from 7pm - 6am, and last night was hard. I had some unripe pineapple for dinner, and that was the last of the food I’d brought over, then I found a can of mixed nuts, and ate some of those. I went to bed early and slept until 11am today. So tired. Then a knock on the door. It was my cousin’s friends. They were leaving town, and wanted to stop by and check on me. They brought me apples, oranges, bottled water, a phone charger, a small light, and a fan. It was the first time that I finally cried.
I heard from the Airbnb owner that there was electricity on my side of town. Not knowing if the roads were shut, I took a chance and came out. What usually takes 25 minutes took hours. The devastation along the way was unreal. Entire buildings with huge chunks missing. Roofs blown off. Flooding. It’s literally the worst natural disaster I’ve ever witnessed, which is ironic given that I come from a place famous for earthquakes.
I arrived to my street to find a tree blocking the road, which knocked down some power lines. Fortunately, my place was fine! I’m charging up all of my electronics and my power banks to bring back to my cousin’s and will head back over before curfew so that I can secure the house. The electricity and air conditioning are working. I have internet. I took a shower and ate something. Changed into dry clothes. I feel like a million bucks on the outside. But Sally really rattled me, and I don't know how to shake it.
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