Former Iolans Anthony and Aubri Hanson consider themselves lucky.
Their home withstood a direct hit from Hurricane Michael, which pounded the Gulf Coast with nearly unprecedented fury last week.
The storm, which grew from a tropical depression into a Category 5 monster in a span of three days, pummeled the Florida Panhandle the morning of Oct. 10 before churning its way up the Atlantic Coastal areas.
Michael is blamed for at least 46 deaths, 31 in the United States.
The Hansons, who live in Marianna, Fla., about 50 miles inland, near where the borders of Florida, Georgia and Alabama meet, were home as Michael?s eye passed through, with winds still in excess of 100 mph.
They?re among the hundreds of thousands who lost power. Now a week later, they?re still waiting for electricity to be restored. Three of the storm?s victims were killed in Marianna.
They?ve been able to get by with a generator and grill. Intermittent telephone and Internet service has allowed them to maintain contact with friends and family back home in Kansas.
Anthony, a 1991 Iola High School graduate, is a retired Army major, served two tours in both Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other stints across the globe, flying reconnaissance missions as the pilot of a Kiowa Warrior helicopter. (He is one of several veterans whose banners are hanging this month in Iola?s downtown square.)
A licensed pilot, Anthony owns a small airplane, a Mooney, and took aerial photos of the storm damage. After retiring from military, he began working as transportation manager for REX Lumber.
Aubri is a 1994 IHS graduate. She is a physicist and engineer who has worked at NASA, then in the aerospace industry for several years, most recently teaching engineering technology at the junior college level. She has taught classes in physics, electronics, hydraulics/pneumatics, control system theory and programming.
Currently, she?s teaching part time at Wingrass Georgia Technical College and volunteering as coordinator for the EAA Young People?s program in the Marianna area. She also raises backyard chickens.
Anthony is the son of Betty and George Hawley, Elsmore. Aubri is the daughter of Leonard Barnett, owner of West Side Bait Shop in Iola.
They have two children, Alli, a second lieutenant in the Air Force, and Max.
AUBRI kept a running diary in the runup and aftermath of the storm.
