In the hours after Hurricane Sally made landfall along the Alabama coastline Wednesday, crews in Baldwin County weren’t able to enter into impacted areas to provide aid due to weather conditions, local officials said, and a portion of Three Mile Bridge between Pensacola and Gulf Breeze, Florida, was missing, damaged during the hurricane.
Zach Hood, Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency director, said during a Facebook video Wednesday morning that the hurricane “wreaked havoc on our county and on our infrastructure.”
“Right now you need to be sheltered in place. It is not safe for anyone to be on the road, unless it is an emergency essential reason to be on the road,” Hood said.
Magnolia Springs River will exceed record-high flood levels, Hood said, and because Hurricane Sally has been slow-moving, it’s causing life-threatening flooding and wind damage.
Hood stressed for residents not to call 911 unless the situation is life-threatening and to instead call the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency at 251-972-6807.
First responders Wednesday morning weren’t able to get into impacted areas due to weather conditions, Hood said, but work was underway to locate pockets where those first responders can enter to provide aid.
“Our coast has taken a very devastating hit here, but throughout the entire county, we are seeing reports of the major debris. We’re seeing power lines. We’re seeing very dangerous conditions in terms of the weather,” Hood said. “This will continue. Our threat is not over. We are still dealing with immediate threats. Do not create an additional burden for our response system.”
The Santa Rosa County Emergency Management Agency at 10:04 a.m. Wednesday tweeted that a piece of the Three Mile Bridge, also known as the Pensacola Bridge, that connects Pensacola, Florida, and Gulf Breeze, Florida, was missing.
⚠️We have received a report that a piece of the Three Mile Bridge is missing. DO NOT attempt to cross this bridge. Seek an alternate route.
— Santa Rosa County Emergency Management (@SRC_EM) September 16, 2020
CONFIRMED – Part of the new 3 mile bridge is missing.
Photo credit Lawrence Rogers pic.twitter.com/CuLGyy4Uyu— Kaitlin Wright (@wxkaitlin) September 16, 2020
In other tweets and photos, it appeared that a barge struck the bridge and a crane fell atop a portion during the hurricane.
