[dug224]

So, we got moved in and I got my garaged all setup just in time for Sally to show up. The good news is that we moved the '59 and all of the other cars to the parking garage at The Wharf (local resort). The bad news is that we decided to stay based on a Cat 1 to Tropicial Storm prediction. My Gold Fortified building performed well (with us in it) and my flood vents did their jobs. When was the last time you drove your house down the freeway at over 100 mph??? Planning on an inch or two of water in the lower floor and ended up with 30 inches plus 10"+/- of wave action INSIDE my garage. Turned the garage into Tool Soup. Garage doors and two personnel doors gave up to the hydraulic action. Eighty gallon Compressor flipped over. Tool boxes filled with salt water. My recent Ski Nautique project boat purchase survived but floated around on its trailer banging into the hearty 10"x10" piles for a few hours. Anything below about 40" is toast. Threw all of my hand tools in soapy water and have been slowly moving them to vats of diesel fuel. Spraying CorrsionX on everything. Great product. My wife had approx 100 boxes of stuff that were yet to be moved upstairs that became part of the soup. FEMA flood will cover a few items maybe to the tune of $2k but no contents. From my house, I could see about 25 large boats in various places they were not supposed to be. Last count was that 575 boats were totaled. We got power and gas back within a week which is incredible. Incredible town, Orange Beach, AL, we now live in. While this is unfortunate and will take a few dollars and months & years to rectify, it pales in comparison to the discovery of the only fatality from the storm. I stepped out to assess the damage during the eye of the storm at daybreak and found the gentlemen who lost his life. He was 72 years old and was tending to a 42' boat during the storm that lost power and capsized. His partner survived and ended up at my neighbors house 3 doors down. All is now well here and will be shopping for some new tool boxes really soon. dug