In early October, 1995, Hurricane Opal hit the Florida Panhandle. There have been stronger hurricanes hit this area but for some reason, this one really knocked out the power, just about everywhere.
It stayed out here for around two weeks. Things could have been worse. It was still very hot but not like July. Most emergency services were still operating. There were areas within easy driving range where you could gas up.
Some of the major superstores came back on fairly quickly using their emergency power.
Still having no power at home became really tough. I had to check on my 85 year old Father every day and was surprised how well he stood up. Daddy had a 6000 watt generator which he had hooked up years earlier and it did provide him with water but not much else except refrigerator.
I remember how happy I was when the power came back on.
Another thing I remember about Opal was the major stores like Wal-Mart were cleared out fairly quickly, at least for perishables and things like batteries, generators etc.
Fortunately these stores had trucks come almost immediately and replenish except for some reason generators took a week or more to resupply. Some began price gouging.