Check in if you've been through a hurricane

[dixiegrrrrl]

56. ahh..Opal....the "surprise" hurricane.

I had gone to bed, in my mobile home, at 11 pm when they said Opal was likely to hit further away from where i was.
Woke at 9 am to find the yard flooded and my answering machine filled with friend's messages to get the hell out of the trailer I was renting.
Waded thru ankle deep water, and crossed over the Interstate to shelter in a friend's home.
Learned a HUGE lesson as I crossed the Interstate and saw all lanes filled with northbound cars, from Mobile and Pensacola and other parts of the Gulf, sitting..NOT moving. The evacuation had been too late and many many people were on the freeway during the storm.
Lost the mobile home, it had 8 trees on it when I got back 3 days later.
But that was in 1995, and FEMA was doggedly good at chasing down us refugees and giving us money.
They even filled out all the paperwork, I got a small check and used it as a downpayment on a solid brick house in a town further away from the Gulf., still live here today.