Lexington Eds Crews Join Relief Efforts
LEXINGTON, Ky. (WKYT) – A Georgetown woman took a trip to Gulf Shores, Alabama that she’ll never forget.
“When we got here on Tuesday, it was really rolling in,” Patti Bridges said. “It kept changing the trajectory further and further east until all of a sudden it was heading straight for Gulf Shores.”
Patti Bridge lives in Georgetown and was vacationing in Gulf Shores, Alabama when Hurricane Sally hit.
“You could hear them outside, the winds,” Bridges said. “I got up and looked outside in the middle of the night, and I couldn’t even see out of the window because the wind was blowing the rain so hard against the window.”
It wasn’t until morning that she could see the aftermath.
Crews with Emergency Disaster Services in Lexington were already in the Lake Charles, Louisiana area following Hurricane Laura. Now, they’ve got crews in four different states, including Alabama, providing meals and shelter for first responders working rescue missions and restoring power.
“One of the most devastating things that this hurricane is doing is it’s crawling through the area,” Director Matt Daley said. “Once it hit land with the velocity that it hit, now it’s moving as fast as you walk and it is just dumping water right now so we still have flash floods.”
Daley said EDS crews will likely be in the south until early October.
“What’s scary is there are four more storms behind Sally,” Daley said.
However, Bridges is hoping to leave as early as Thursday.
“We can’t get out now, so we’re waiting to see tomorrow whether the bridges will actually be opened,” Bridges said. “If they’re open we’ll probably head further inland because we don’t have water and electric.”
Daley said as of Wednesday night, there were still about 50,000 to 60,000 people without power because of Hurricane Sally.