Coastal Alabama residents should consider staying indoors when Tropical Storm Zeta arrives on Wednesday night, Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier said Tuesday.
The mayor of Alabama’s only barrier island – considered the “front line” and a “vulnerable” community during tropical weather – said he’s concerned about debris leftover from Hurricane Sally, and leaning trees and power poles toppling over from strong winds that are expected to blow into the Alabama Gulf Coast with Zeta.
Zeta strengthened and became the 11th hurricane of 2020 on Monday afternoon, and it’s forecast to head into the Gulf Tuesday and track toward the northern Gulf Coast by Wednesday. Storm surge and tropical storm watches were issued for the Alabama coast and Mobile Bay on Monday afternoon. The hurricane watch extends from the Alabama-Mississippi border west into Louisiana.
“We have a lot of lingering damage from Sally,” said Collier. “Trees are still leaning and limbs are hanging. I’m cautioning people about driving around once conditions deteriorate. You could be driving down the road and a limb or tree could fall.”
He added, “It’s a little bit different. Normally, you don’t think of those kinds of things. But having a storm a few weeks ago, those vulnerabilities are out there.”
The probabilities continue to increase that Alabama will see tropical storm force winds (39 mph and higher) from Zeta on Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson, during a morning meeting, said his staff was meeting this afternoon to talk about time lines related to emergency orders related to the storm.
“I don’t think any of us thought we’d be thinking of another hurricane headed our way,” Stimpson said.
Debris remains a concern in Baldwin County, where large piles can be found on roadsides from the coastal area to the northern parts of the county.
Jenni Guerry, deputy director with the Baldwin County Emergency Management Agency, during a morning Facebook report, said that 50% of the debris from Hurricane Sally has been collected. She requested people with existing debris piles to move them away from drainage systems.
“We expect 1 to 3 inches as a result of this system,” said Guerry.
In Orange Beach, among the hardest-hit Alabama cities during Sally, marine-related debris continues to be a problem as city officials work to “mitigate any threats we find,” according to Orange Beach Coastal Resources Director Phillip West.
“Clearly, most of our marine structures remaining in and around Orange Beach are I very fragile condition, and thus any forthcoming (storm) surge or significant wind and wave event, will likely cause damaged sections of piers, bulkheads, docks and boathouses to break loose creating both a marine debris issue as well as a threat to boating safety, etc.,” West said in an email to AL.com. He also said that city officials are working in low-lying areas to prevent the Sally debris from becoming “hazardous.”
Power outages remain a concern ahead of Zeta, especially after multiple utilities spent weeks restoring a massive power outage occurring after Sally.
“We have a disaster emergency plan in place,” says Mark Ingram, vice president of corporate services and public relations with Baldwin EMC, which is the largest electrical utility operator in Baldwin County. “While at this time it doesn’t look like Baldwin County will take a direct hit from Zeta, what we learned from Hurricane Sally is that we can’t predict what path these storms will take until their final hours. We want to assure our members we are prepared should Hurricane Zeta reach our service area, and we’ll be ready to respond within a matter of hours after a storm hits and begin restoring power as safely and quickly as possible.”
Related: Tree trunks, limbs everywhere: Hurricane Sally’s debris will ‘exceed Ivan by quite a bit’
Schools in Mobile and Baldwin counties have not been called off ahead of Zeta’s arrival. Baldwin County School Superintendent Eddie Tyler is scheduled to have a weather briefing this morning, and a decision on whether to cancel school this week will be made later in the day.
Back on Dauphin Island’s West End Beach – which is often inundated with storm surge during minor storms -- Collier said the city is informing people residents to move their vehicles to higher ground or “get completely off the West End in advance to the storm.”
“With the utilities, it’s possible we’ll have power outages again,” said Collier. “We have vulnerable trees. The water service on the Island thinks they might have to shut off water to the West End if the conditions get bad with flooding. They will shut it off so the whole system is not compromised. It’s a game-time decision, if you will, and we’ll turn it off if conditions warrant. Imagine being on the West End and you have no way to have transportation and potentially lose power and water. It’s not a fun environment to be in.”
This story was updated at 2 p.m. on October 27, 2020.