‘It’s the most expensive thing I own’: Florida boat owners move vessels out of harm’s way ahead of Helene

ORANGE BEACH, Ala. ( WKRG ) — “It’s the most expensive thing I own.” So when Michael Bruce heard a storm was coming, he wasn’t taking any chances.

“Very scared about a hurricane coming through and wiping everything out so we headed out west,” Bruce said.

His 54-foot Aquila Catamaran is now safely docked at Reel Surprise Marina in Orange Beach.

“I actually lost a boat in Michael so I’m a little bit more scared than most,” Bruce said.

Reel Surprise Marina is just one of the many marinas that barely survived Hurricane Sally four years ago.

“The rub rail was actually above the top of this post,” Randy Boggs said as he reached way above his head. “Where we are standing right now we would be overhead deep in water.”

Boggs said if you are in the cone of uncertainty the time to get out is now.

“Everybody is on high alert right now,” Boggs said. “We learned a lot during Sally. During Sally, the forecast track was what it was and it shifted at the last minute and came in.”

Michael Bruce has dealt with hurricanes before.

“I’ve dealt with it as far back as Hurricane Andrew, it can be very devastating, power outage and all that kind of stuff,” he said.

So for at least the rest of the week, he’ll call his boat home until this storm passes.

Marina’s as far west as Fort Morgan have been getting calls about temporary boat slips. But if the path of the storm shifts they could have to evacuate from here too.

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