Hurricane Michael, like Irma last year, fills Alabama hotels with Florida evacuees

The parking lot of Loxley's Love's Truck Stop off Interstate 10 served as an evacuee staging area on Wednesday, where fleeing Floridians were able to fuel up their cars and gather family and friends together to discuss overnight plans.

Bryan Dawson of Callaway, Florida - adjacent to Panama City - met up with his parents, W.C. and Audra Dawson of Marianna and the couple's two cats. Dawson's parents were unable to find a room in Loxley, and hotels were all but filled up along I-10 in Baldwin County and Mobile.

"They were unable to find a shelter (along I-10 in Florida) that would take in the cats, and we were refused by the (nearby) hotel," said Dawson. The family, however, was in luck: The family has a friend in Loxley, and will stay with him overnight.

The abundance of "No Vacancy" signs throughout Alabama's Gulf Coast scattered Hurricane Michael evacuees throughout Alabama and further west into Mississippi. Hotels were booked in Mobile and Baldwin counties and north through Montgomery and Prattville.

There were limited vacancies in Birmingham, which has approximately 16,000 hotel and motel rooms.

"We've been spot-checking around and there are two rooms here, and seven rooms there," said Dilcy Hilley, vice-president of marketing with the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau. "They are filling up fast."

Irma similarities

The evacuation from Florida's Panhandle into Alabama was similar to the massive displacement of residents from the Sunshine State during Hurricane Irma, occurring just 13 months ago.

Irma, which was once feared to be a powerful Category 5 hurricane, prompted a mass evacuation out of Florida and jammed interstates throughout Alabama. That storm wound up being a Category 3 hurricane when it struck Southwest Florida with sustained winds of 115 mph.

By contrast, Hurricane Michael is a fast-developing storm with winds up to 155 mph as it approached Mexico Beach, about 40 miles east of Panama City. Authorities fear it could be the most powerful storm to strike the Emerald Coast since 1851.

In both storms, Mobile and Baldwin counties were located just west of the hurricane's furthest reaches. And in both storms, Floridians flocked to Alabama seeking shelter, hotel rooms, gas stations and restaurants.

John Kilcullen, director of plans and operations with the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency, said last year that the influx of Florida residents brought about a "new dynamic" in challenges authorities face when a hurricane approaches the Gulf Coast.

He said those same challenges exist if a storm, someday, shifts course and heads toward coastal Alabama when hotels are filled and emergency shelters are occupied with residents elsewhere.

"Because of the transportation network, I-10 is an attractive evacuation route for a lot of people in that area looking to go and to get just far enough from the high-risk area," said Kilcullen. "The problem that poses for us is that we are on the fringe of the risk area. If there had been a minor change or a westerly shift, people would be evacuating in what would still be a risk area."

He added, "The economic impact is OK if our hotels fill up, but if the dynamics of that storm changes, it adds to our problems of keeping people safe and getting out of harm's way. It seems like it will work out this time, but we are concerned about the next event."

Kilcullen acknowledged that Mobile was outside the so-called "forecast cone" days before Florida Gov. Rick Scott urged Florida's Panhandle residents to evacuate ahead of Michael's arrival.

Kilcullen also said that forecasting modeling has "gotten better and more accurate" than in year's past, which helps coastal cities like Mobile serve as a sheltering location for evacuees.

Still, forecasting isn't foolproof and Kilcullen cited a recent example to underline his concerns.

"In Tropical Storm Gordon, the landfall was slated for Gulfport/Biloxi but wound up more east of the Alabama-Mississippi state line," said Kilcullen, referring to the tropical storm that struck the coastal area last month. "There is still some unpredictability on where the storm can go. It's not a complete science yet."

In Robertsdale, an emergency shelter was opened at the Baldwin County Coliseum on Tuesday for overnight guests evacuating the storm. Only six people stayed the night, which was quite the contrast from the more than 200 evacuees who slept on cots set up throughout the Coliseum during Irma's evacuation.

Baldwin County Sheriff Huey "Hoss" Mack said the Coliseum will remain open for evacuees through Friday. He said a determination will be made on Friday on whether the shelter needs to remain open and transition into a facility for people who are displaced from the storm if their homes are damaged or destroyed. The shelter served in that capacity after Hurricane Katrina slammed into coastal Mississippi and Louisiana in 2005.

Mack said he believes the shelter hasn't been utilized as much during Michael because Robertsdale's location isn't a far enough distance from the storm's effects.

"Irma was a bit more south in Florida than what Michael is and people may have tried to distance themselves more form the Panama City area," said Mack. "A lot of the traffic we saw on Interstate 10 (Tuesday) was going through Mobile."

Limited vacancy

Hotels in downtown Mobile and along I-10 into Tillman's Corner, though, were completely booked Wednesday. The city has approximately 6,700 rooms available.

David Clark, president & CEO of Visit Mobile, said that evacuees looking for something to do in Mobile were being offered discounts to various attractions: A $6 discount off adult admission into the Mobile Carnival Museum, $5 off adult admission into the USS Alabama Battleship, $2 off admission into the Bragg-Mitchell Mansion and Bellingrath Gardens & Home, etc.

"Mobile will always be welcoming to our guests and I'm happy our attractions are offering discounts and ... to give them southern hospitality during their stay," said Clark. "The bottom line is that you hope everyone is safe."

Hotels were also filling up along Alabama's beaches, where evacuees were looking elsewhere to "salvage vacation plans," according to Joanie Flynn, vice-president of marketing for Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism.

"We have families here for Fall Break, guests in for the 47th annual National Shrimp Festival, and we know from social media comments that we have evacuees here from Panama City area - vacationers who evacuated our way to finish their vacation and residents who evacuated," Flynn said in an email statement to AL.com. "With a major event occurring, availability is limited, but lodging options still do exist."

AirBnb, the popular home-sharing app that has agreements in place with Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, was offering an "open homes program" that provided free accommodations for evacuees and emergency relief workers. As of Wednesday morning, only one Mobile house had availability, according to the program's website.

Evacuees were also filling up hotels in coastal Mississippi, more than 260 miles west of where Michael made landfall.

Overnight Tuesday, the Gulf Coast casino hotels in Biloxi were filled, and evacuees were being directed to hotels along I-10.

"We are finding people rooms," said Linda Hornsby, executive director of the Mississippi Hotel and Lodging Association.

Monica Moran and her brother, Sebastian, already had a room for the night with their parents in Loxley. They spent Wednesday morning dining at a packed Waffle House located just off I-10.

Residents of Freeport, Florida - just east of where Hurricane Michael made landfall - the siblings were unsure on when they could return home. For now, they were just looking for things to kill time.

"We're looking for something to do," said Monica Moran, who perked up after being told that a shopping center in Spanish Fort was just a few miles from their hotel. "Maybe we'll go to the zoo or something."

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