July 19-20, 1997

July 19-20, 1997

Our week on the beach in Destin, FL is near an end. We fly home tomorrow. Distressingly, there is talk of a hurricane named Danny hitting the nearby Mobile area. My relatives all drove here so they make plans to leave early to beat the hurricane. Although we have never been in a hurricane this house looks pretty solid and we are far from Mobile. Besides there is nothing I can do about the situation; everyone is trying to fly out today.

We are up early the next morning. Now I am a little worried. This huge house is deserted, and eerily quiet since my family all left in the middle of the night…and the weather looks ominous. The expansive beach is now much smaller with the tidal surge pushing water far up towards the house. Aimee and I pack up and start the drive over to Fort Walton. I figure it is better to get inland. Maybe we can stop and see the Naval Air Museum. Halfway to Pensacola the rain just lets loose. There is no way we are going closer to this hurricane. We stop and shop to kill some time. When there is a break in the weather, we head for the airport to wait out the storm. I am in no hurry as I am guessing our flight will be delayed or even cancelled. Shockingly, in a couple hours the sky clears and our plane leaves right on time! At home, we learn Danny was a Category 1 hurricane that dumped a record amount of rain on Mobile.