Effects of Hurricane Ivan in Alabama

The effects of Hurricane Ivan caused major damage to Alabama, along with the oil industry in both Alabama and the Gulf of Mexico. Ivan started out as a tropical depression off the coast of Africa before rapidly intensifying into a Category 4 hurricane. The storm hit the Leeward Islands, particularly affecting Grenada while doing so. Then, the storm began flickering between Category 4 and 5 strength, while passing closely to both Jamaica and the Cayman Islands, before moving into the Gulf of Mexico. On September 16, it made landfall in Gulf Shores, Alabama as a Category 3 hurricane with winds of 120 mph. After landfall, it moved across multiple states before moving off the coast near Virginia, striking south Florida as a post-tropical depression, and then finally hitting southwest Louisiana as a tropical depression and later dissipating.

Ivan caused no fatalities in Alabama, but inflicted around $18.82 billion in damage, mostly in Baldwin County. It was the costliest hurricane in Alabama history, and the tenth most damaging American hurricane of all time.

Preparations
On September 13, in response to Hurricane Ivan, a state of emergency was issued for Alabama by Governor Bob Riley. This led to a law against price gouging becoming effective immediately. Mandatory evacuations for Dauphin Island, Gulf Shores, Orange Beach, and Fort Morgan were issued the morning of September 14. Hours later, evacuations in the areas of Mobile and Baldwin counties south of Interstate 10 was ordered, including a third of the incorporated territory of the City of Mobile, as well as several of its suburbs. As a result of the evacuations, all lanes on I-65 were rerouted to go north, successfully allowing more people to leave South Alabama. Ivan prompted the evacuation of 270 animals at the Alabama Gulf Coast Zoo in Gulf Shores, Alabama. The evacuation had to be completed within a couple of hours, with only 28 volunteers available to move the animals. A hurricane watch was issued for the entire coastline of Alabama around 51 hours before landfall, which was upgraded to a hurricane warning around 42 hours before landfall. A soccer match in Tuscaloosa between the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama at Birmingham was postponed to a later date.

Impact
When the hurricane hit it brought strong winds and rain. In Baldwin County, a gust with winds of 145 mph was reported, along with a storm surge ranging from 16–29 feet (5–9 meters) high, and a peak of 10.16 inches (258.064 millimeters) of rainfall. Thousands of homes in Escambia, Baldwin County, and Mobile County were damaged or destroyed. In Orange Beach, 60 percent of all wooden structures were damaged. During the peak of the storm, 825,000 customers lost power. Major damage was reported at the Gulf Shore Zoo, and despite efforts to evacuate all animals, several deers and six alligators escaped after their enclosures were destroyed. The Alabama Forestry Commission reported $610 million in damage to timber over around 2.7 million acres of land. Despite initial reports of Mobile being in the direct path of the hurricane, Ivan made landfall to the east of the city, causing damage to be less severe than initially expected. However, there were still reports of downed trees, power lines, and damaged billboards across the city. Around 6-9 in inches of rain fell in Birmingham over a one day period, the most the city had recorded in over a 100 years. Wind also extender far inland. In the city of Demopolis, which is almost 100 miles inland, received wind gusts of up to 90 mph. Similarly, Montgomery also saw wind gusts of up to 60 to 70 mph.

Aftermath
With 825,000 power outages, it caused the highest power outage in Alabama history. Almost 4,000 linemen were brought into Alabama from outside states to help restore power. Debris piles reached 70 ft talk and 0.75 mi side during cleanup. President George W. Bush declared Alabama a disaster area. He cancelled political campaigning to observe relief areas in impacted places. On September 16, a federal disaster declaration was approved by George W. Bush. This allowed people who were impacted by the storm to get federal assistance. A gator named Chucky from the Gulf Shores Alabama zoo was caught five days after escaping his enclosure during the hurricane.