First the Pandemic. Now the Storm. Gulf Shores High School Can’t Catch a Break.

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Gulf Shores High School was back. Classes were in session, albeit with masked teachers and masked students. Football games were played with masked cheerleaders and masked band members and fans who were told to avoid crowding together.

Then Hurricane Sally came to town.

The powerful storm plowed into Gulf Shores, Ala., early Wednesday morning, flooding houses, damaging roofs, cutting electricity to thousands of homes — and canceling classes and postponing Friday’s football game.

“I was extra excited because it was feeling normal for once,” said Halee Sharkey, 17, a senior who had been decorating the hall on Sunday for Friday’s homecoming matchup against the Robertsdale Golden Bears and whose family’s home had flooding and roof damage.

The coronavirus had cut short Halee’s junior year and eliminated a high school tennis season that she had been looking forward to. Last week, she learned she had been elected to the homecoming court.