Yesterday, the Tampa Tribune story mentioned the Flora-Bama Lounge:

The Flora-Bama Lounge remained resolute. “Open until we float away,” read an attached sign.

The roadhouse, which Tampa author Tim Dorsey once wrote “looked as if it was built
by enemies of its owners,” sits on the Florida-Alabama state line along the Gulf Coast’s
“Redneck Riviera.”

Regulars and employees said Ivan scared them.

“It’s gonna sound stupid, but since it popped up, something in my gut told me this one’s
going to be bad,” said Diane, a patron who declined to give her last name.

Prophetic words.  There’s not a lot of coherent news coming out of the devastated area today, but these two paragraphs from Reuters caught my eye.

Across Mobile Bay in the swamped town of Gulf Shores, homes and apartment buildings were
damaged and the beach road was washed away after a storm surge of up to 15 feet (4.6
metres) that carried water 10 blocks inland.

The Flora Bama, a famed roadhouse straddling the Alabama- Florida line, was destroyed,
after optimistically posting a note on its Web site that it was “riding out the storm.”

Sad.

Here in Atlanta, we’re OK. As predicted, lots of wind, some trees down, but nothing seriously
destroyed, and no “Finger of God” tornadoes.