T-storm grounds Blue Angels till Sunday
BY LISA NEWELL Gulf Breeze News lisa@gulfbreezenews.com

David Standridge/Gulf Breeze News The Blue Angels perform Thursday on Pensacola Beach. The airshow went off without a hitch on Friday, but the show scheduled for Saturday was delayed till Sunday due to intense thunderstorms.

The crowds got a different air show than the one they were expecting on Saturday as a sudden summer thunderstorm cropped up before the air show began.

Lightning bolts struck all around, injuring several people and causing a scare for those on boats anchored in Little Sabine Bay and Quietwater.

Approximately 45,000 people were crowded onto Pensacola Beach Saturday, SRIA Executive Director Buck Lee said. Officials were monitoring a storm that "blew up and blew up and blew up," Lee said. "It was the craziest thing I've ever seen."

Lee said canceling the air show was in the interest of public safety. He then confirmed all participants, except the Coast Guard, for Sunday's rescheduled air show.

"The people who came saw a great show on Sunday," Lee said. About 38,000 came, he estimated, adding that there were big crowds for the air shows on Thursday and Friday.