September storms to remember

MOBILE, Ala. (WALA) - September is well known as the most active and dangerous month of the Atlantic hurricane season. Statistically peaking around Sept. 10, Gulf waters reach their maximum heat, acting as high-octane fuel for intensifying tropical systems. History has taught the people of Mobile and Baldwin County, coastal Mississippi and the Florida Panhandle to remain vigilant and highly aware of tropical systems brewing this time of year.

Hurricane Frederic (1979)

Longtime residents still talk about 1979, the year Hurricane Frederic proved just how destructive September could be. Frederic slammed directly into Dauphin Island as a ferocious Category 4 storm. It didn’t just bring howling winds; it pushed a terrifying wall of water, leaving behind 12 to 15 feet of storm surge that completely reshaped area beaches. For decades, Frederic was the benchmark of coastal fury.

Hurricane Elena (1985)

Only a few years later, the start of the month brought another severe test of coastal resilience. On Sept. 2, 1985, Hurricane Elena barreled ashore in Biloxi, Mississippi, packing unrelenting 125 mph winds that ripped roofs from homes and snapped pine trees like toothpicks. Even though the eye officially made landfall to the west, the storm’s vast size meant its most violent, punishing eastern eyewall whipped directly across the state line. This powerful side of the storm battered the Alabama coast for hours, leaving behind widespread, significant destruction throughout Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Hurricane Georges (1998)

As the years rolled on, the final days of the month proved just as volatile. In 1998, Hurricane Georges emerged as the second major hurricane of a relentless season, tearing a path through the Caribbean and making seven landfalls in six different countries. By the time it took aim at the northern Gulf Coast on Sept. 28, it had weakened to a Category 2 storm, but its impact was felt across the entire region. Georges made landfall near Biloxi, punishing parts of Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Georgia, and Florida with 8- to 10-foot storm surges, torrential rains, and spinning off multiple tornadoes. Yet, amid the widespread destruction, Georges also became a story of resilience; thanks to advance warnings and well-executed evacuation plans, the death toll remained remarkably low.

Hurricane Ivan (2004)

The true magnitude of September’s potential was redefined in 2004 by Hurricane Ivan, a monster Cape Verde system that reached Category 5 strength three times in the Caribbean. At 1:50 a.m. on September 16, Ivan made landfall just west of Gulf Shores, Alabama, as an upper-end Category 3 hurricane with 120 mph sustained surface winds. A sailboat anchored near Wolf Bay even clocked an astonishing wind gust of 145 mph. Ivan pushed a historic 10-to-15-foot storm surge that breached Mobile Bay, flooded downtown, and completely collapsed a half-mile section of the Interstate 10 bridge over Pensacola Bay. The catastrophic tree and structural damage carved a path deep inland across Escambia, Conecuh, Monroe, and Wilcox counties. Ivan’s sheer devastation across Baldwin County and the Florida Panhandle ultimately exceeded the memories of both Frederic and Opal.

Hurricane Sally (2020)

Then came Sally, a stark reminder of a different kind of tropical nightmare. Spookily landing on the exact same day as Ivan sixteen years later, Sally made landfall in Gulf Shores, Alabama, on Wednesday, Sept. 16, 2020, as a strong Category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. Sally wasn’t just powerful; she was agonizingly slow. Crawling at less than 5 mph at landfall, the storm dragged out the destruction for hours on end, trapping residents in a seemingly endless loop of howling 121 mph wind gusts on Fort Morgan and a deluge that dumped nearly 30 inches of rain over Orange Beach.

The prolonged pounding caused widespread wind damage, storm surge, and devastating freshwater flooding that cut off coastal Alabama and the western Florida Panhandle, stretching deep into the inland forests of southwest and south-central Alabama. The true tragedy of the slow-moving storm was measured in the lives it claimed. In the Wolf Bay area of Baldwin County, two men chose to ride out the tempest on their boat. As the elements overwhelmed the vessel, they attempted a desperate swim to shore. Only one man made it to a pier to be rescued and hospitalized; his companion drowned in the churning waters, becoming one of Sally’s three direct fatalities. On Innerarity Point, another life was tragically cut short as the storm took its final toll.

A Precarious Coast

September remains a beautiful but volatile time on the coast. It is a month where the extreme warmth of the late summer ocean serves as an annual, quiet warning of sleeping cyclones that can awaken at any moment.