For Navarre Beach, Sally's watery wrath didn't come from the sky

Hurricane Sally dropped more than 30 inches of rain on parts of the Florida Panhandle and coastal Alabama as it chugged inland Wednesday morning — the storm's most high-profile impact — but for residents in one barrier island community in southeast Santa Rosa County, the dangerous gush of water didn't come from the sky. 

Navarre Beach Fire Rescue Chief Danny Fureigh said by mid-morning the hurricane's back end had pushed water from Santa Rosa Bay onto the island, turning a storm that had left the island wet and wind-swept — but intact — into an emergency in just about an hour.

The surge was “totally different than any other storm we’ve dealt with," Fureigh said.

The gush of water coincided with high tide, exacerbating a rapidly worsening flood that caught many Navarre Beach residents off guard. “All of a sudden, in less than an hour we couldn’t even move the cars," said Sarah Jackson. “It got worrisome because it kept rising ... kept rising and rising," she said.

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Jackson said the floodwaters swept away every boat in her neighborhood.

Gulf Boulevard, the island's main thoroughfare, was under water. Emergency workers had to use high-water vehicles to reach people who were trapped in their homes because of rapidly rising water. Fureigh said his department, with the U.S. Coast Guard, made about 10 rescues Wednesday morning.

The water rose so quickly some motorists got trapped in their cars.

Katie and Harper Hua drove to Navarre Beach from Fort Worth, Texas earlier in the week for a family reunion. Originally from Minnesota, they "did not anticipate a hurricane whatsoever." 

By Tuesday evening, they thought they may have seen the worst of the storm and drove back to the beach — maneuvering around police cars — after eating dinner at a hibachi restaurant. What came next was "absolutely terrifying," Katie Hua said. 

‘It slowly started to get really, really bad," Katie Hua said.

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The storm shutters on the home they were staying in broke during the night. “All we heard was banging all night. The house was shaking," she said.

The rising water claimed her car — a total loss — but the Hua family planned to make the best of it. They were hoping to head to Panama City after the storm passed. 

Tim Banfell, a Pensacola native who lived in New Orleans, has been through his share of storms, including Hurricane Katrina, but Sally still proved a humbling experience. He described seeing white caps coming into the neighborhood by Wednesday morning — too late to move cars out of harm's way.

“I thought my flooding days were over after leaving New Orleans," he said. "But it happened again.”