Fairhope, Alabama
Publisher's note: The Fairhope Times has been out of commission due to the hurricane.
All photos were taken by our 'storm chaser' early Wednesday morning.
CLICK ON THE PHOTOS TO ENLARGE.
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| N. Section Street (FT storm-chaser photos) |
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| Fairhope Avenue near Fairwood Blvd. |
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| Downtown Fairhope |
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| Pier Wednesday morning. |
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| Fairhope Avenue blocked (@ Knoll Park) |
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| Magnolia Avenue tree split. |
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| Pine leaning on S. Mobile Street wires |
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| Eye passed to east |
DISASTROUS TREE DAMAGE
Hurricane Sally battered the city and county Wednesday morning causing major tree damage worse than Ivan, the last storm to directly hit 16 years earlier. Apparently the storm's eye wall slowly-moved over with its pounding northwest winds for many hours.
Tree damage was widespread, knocking down power lines or resting precariously on them. The sandy bottom of the bay could clearly be seen; water was driven out by the strong north wind.
Power was out all over town but pre-approved disaster debris removal contractors began clearing major roads almost immediately; it may take weeks to fully restore power, however, according to subsequent city press releases.
The hospital, grocery stores, and gas stations traditionally have priority in restoring power: check back for updates.
CITY'S UPDATE
MET: DAMAGE: "The City has experienced a significant amount of damage. We predict the cleanup from this storm will be ongoing for weeks.
UTILITIES: The priority is to restore power to hospitals and first responders followed by the rest of the city. In addition to our own crews, we have an additional 10 crews from other electric utilities to help with the restoration process. Our current transmission feed is out and while we will begin restoring our distribution system, we will be unable to restore power until these transmission lines have been restored.
Our Gas system had several outages caused by trees that damaged service lines as they fell, and these have been repaired or capped off. We will continue to monitor the system moving forward.
The water system is currently experiencing some leaks and customers may experience some lower pressures until these have been corrected. We have several generators running on our wastewater system but are still in the process of completing a damage assessment."
CURFEW IMPOSED
Acting under last Monday's emergency declaration by the city council, mayor Wilson imposed a 6 PM - 6 AM curfew for public safety ... and to discourage illicit activity overnight. Baldwin County also enacted the same curfew in its jurisdiction.
$7 MILLION EMERGENCY RESERVE FUND AVAILABLE
Some good news: the city has a seven million dollar reserve fund to use in such emergencies without borrowing: FEMA traditionally reimburses 75% of clean-up costs, but it could take many months to receive it.
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| Fig Avenue |
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| Summit Street |
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| East Fairhope Avenue at Hoffren Dr. |
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| S. Mobile Street |
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| Fairhope Ave. at post office |
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