Re: 18 years ago at this time - where were you and how were things going
Posted by IndyDave on 8/27/2010, 10:05 am
I was living in Ohio at the time.  My job rarely required travel, but I needed to spend a week in Panama City.  I had booked a Sunday night flight through Tampa changing to puddle jumper for the flight to Panama City.  We got in to Tampa around 8 p.m. and the airport was extremely hectic - a lot of flights were being cancelled, they were clearly trying to get all the planes out of there just in case.  Our flight was one of the last dozen or so out of the airport.  I was a bit nervous about needing to rent a car to drive to Panama City if our flight was cancelled.

I had my trusty hand held weather radio with me (its in my car today) and a hurricane tracking map as we sat working in a windowless office in Panama City.  We had a rental car so we were plotting our escape route as we worked in case Andrew turned towards us.

Our hotel was on the beach (the Holiday Inn I believe).  I remember waking up in the middle of the night Monday night / Tuesday morning to the sound of the surf and looking out and seeing how far up the beach it had come as the effects began to be felt throughout the Gulf.

It was a nervous few days for us, especially as we watched the news reports on the damage.  With what we know today in the internet age, etc, I would imagine our trip would have been postponed until we knew for sure what was going on.  

The company I worked for owned Cutler Ridge Mall that was a near total loss - I was supposed to go down on a trip to view the damage in preparation for the insurance claim, but at the last minute I was taken off the trip.  It was the right call as I really didn't need to be there and there really didn't need to be people there who didn't need to be.
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18 years ago at this time - where were you and how were things going - DTB_2009, 8/26/2010, 10:45 pm
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