PANAMA CITY BEACH, Fla. (LEX 18) — A Corbin family is among those currently evacuating from Hurricane Michael’s path. The Hampton family was vacationing in Panama City Beach until they found out their condo was in a mandatory evacuation zone.
This time of year, the sands of Panama City Beach usually are packed with tourists for fall break, but this morning Jane Hampton said it was a ghost town.
“Oh it was rough, it’s rough. I just went out and looked at the ocean awhile ago, and it’s really rough. They’ve got the beaches closed here,” she said.
She and her family were staying in an evacuation zone as Hurricane Michael inches closer to shore. They were going to leave last night, but it would have taken them more than an hour just to get out of the city.
“Last night, every gas station had a line all the way around it. You just had to get in line. The one we stopped at was closing at 7 last night and wouldn’t open until 4 Wednesday they said,” said Hampton.
The family took off this morning and drove west to Gulf Shores, Alabama.
“We can handle a little rain and thunderstorms because we can always outlet mall shop and maybe, you know, swim in the pool hopefully, but we didn’t want to entirely give up on our vacation because this is our one week at the beach,” she said.
Hampton said that the family has a dolphin tour scheduled for Friday and plans to be back to Panama City Beach Thursday night.
