I barely slept a wink with one eye on The Weather Channel. My phone went off one time with a Flash Flood alert but fortunately for us, where we live, we're pretty safe from that kind of thing. As long as we stay off the streets (and we will be doing that!!) we should be safe from a flash flood event. Mobile, AL (which is about an hour or so west of Pensacola) got 4" of rain in an hour or less last night. So they definitely had their hands full with that much rain in such a short amount of time.
Just wanted to remind folks reading this that lightning storms don't just produce a good light show. We tend to think of it being a danger to people out on golf courses or working outdoors being at risk for death or injury from a strike. In the 1980s my family lived in Mobile, AL and one night a tremendous thunderstorm came rolling through during the night. The house right next to ours took a direct lightning strike to the attic. It took about 15 minutes for the fire to get going and thankfully, the elderly man who lived there alone, was able to get out and go next door to his son's house and call 911.
That house went up in flames and burned almost completely to the ground because it was an older frame house. Our house came within minutes of catching on fire and, as it was, it melted the end shingles on our roof, filled our house and attic with smoke, broke the glass in the door, scorched the house siding and all but destroyed our 1967 Mustang sitting in our driveway between the two houses. We were incredibly lucky that our house was relatively unscathed.
So please do not discount the danger from lightning!! It can and does start fires that can be devastating and life threatening! If your house takes a hit, check things out carefully to make sure there is not a fire smoldering somewhere within it.
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