How many times have Mobilians evacuated for hurricane activity? (Mobile: insurance, neighborhood)

[cchip55]

Hello,

I am hoping someone can answer a question for me. I have done a lot of online research and found out how many and which hurricanes have impacted Mobile, but I cannot find any stats of how many times Mobile has experienced a mandatory evacuation? I would also even be interested if people have evacuated even when it wasn't mandatory.

My thinking is that Mobile has some protection because it isn't directly on the water/Gulf such as Pensacola and storms have to travel up the Bay. Is that right or wrong? It seems that most online sites talking about Mobile being impacted are really talking about Dauphin Island and not Mobile proper....

Any input is appreciated....

[evlb401]

Lived here a long time. We had a mandatory evacuation for Katrina when it was supposed to have a direct hit over the area before moving further west. No one left. I know there was one for Ivan too. My brother was in Hattiesburg and US Highway 98 was packed with people leaving Mobile and backed up for miles. Once again we didn't leave.

Mobile city proper is in a very vulnerable area for Hurricane Storm Surge given the geography of the bay area. The shape of the bay being a triangle and the fast assent of the topography along the eastern shore provide a funneling effect that could cause major flooding in downtown, midtown, and mall areas. Mobile's storm water infrastructure is also a problem. It links directly to the bay. Therefore, a large storm surge and actually move through the system and flood points inland. The middle portion of the city....former wragg swamp (which has been drained).... is 3 feet below sea level and can flood with a large surge. However, it is a bowl with one side open so it would drain quickly unlike New Orleans. It would take a big storm....think if Katrina hit extreme southeast Mississippi or the Miss/AL line.

[cchip55]

I wrote this post as a way to get a better measure of how concerned I should about the impact of hurricanes on Mobile. While Mobile hasn't gotten the hard hits of New Orleans or Pensacola, it seems that storms are intensifying now and cannot take for granted that Mobile will be able to continue to dodge the worst affects of hurricanes. Therefore, hoping more people will weigh in.

For Mobilians, do you sometimes think of leaving the city and moving out of the path of hurricanes?

[evlb401]

For me, Never until I had kids. Don't want to put them in harms way now. Cat 3 or above I will leave.

[Psychoma]

Whether an evacuation is called for or not, there's always someone who will leave, and when in effect always someone who will stay. I can't speak specifically to Mobile, but generally evacuation maps are going to be based on storm surge inundation risk/forecast and possible wind speeds received. Mobile will be affected by another storm one day, just a matter of when. Looking at historical averages per NHC, Mobile area, on average, sees the eye of a Cat1 or Cat2 hurricane within 58miles every 10 years, and Cat3 or higher every 28 years (source: https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/climo/ ). (But remember hurricanes are typically a few hundred miles across with the worst winds and surge near the eye and less farther out from that point). And official storm surge maps from NHC (considered accurate when zoomed in at neighborhood level, be sure to change storm category for higher water possibilities): https://noaa.maps.arcgis.com/apps/Ma...935fad&entry=1


I used to live on the US East coast and live inland now. Just for change of scenery, not due to hurricane risk. That was just normal part of life and insurance took care of the rest. When one came you prepared as needed before the mad rush to stores began, and if was a certain category we would leave due to flood risk and wind speed as needed. We never evacuated (since we knew elevations) and were fine. As evlb mentioned about the storm drains working in reverse letting surge come inland, that I saw first hand once in a storm with water gushing out of the storm street deains and nearby waterways that connected to the local rivers and bays that drained into the ocean flooded streets as well. Strange to watch water pour out and flood your neighborhood (house was fine but street/sidewalks covered with salt water where we were). Surge can come up several hours before a storm makes landfall as well. That same storm also knocked power out for a week most of my city and we left on the 3rd day as that's when the looting started from desperate people looking for food / taking advantage of all the cops directing traffic at busy intersections with no lights. Keep in mind communications were also down so there was no way to know just a few blocks over was food/water or whatever else you needed.

[PortCity]

No not really.When Katrina hit I was living in Huntsville but outside of that I never had to evacuate.

[luksky]

I lived in Mobile most of my life...over 40 years, and have weathered through many hurricanes. We never left, we just hunkered down, and had hurricane parties. The worst ones I remember were Frederick and Ivan, but I’m still alive to tell the story.

[southernnaturelover]

Originally Posted by luksky

I lived in Mobile most of my life...over 40 years, and have weathered through many hurricanes. We never left, we just hunkered down, and had hurricane parties. The worst ones I remember were Frederick and Ivan, but I’m still alive to tell the story.

Mobile lucked out with Ivan and got the weaker west side of it. Baldwin County and Pensacola had it much worse.

[GMJag]

Living in West Mobile, the only time I will evacuate is if there's a Cat 5 heading directly this way. I might stay with friends or family, but in my view the major roads should be left for those living closer to the beaches and flood prone areas. Avoid the gridlock, batten down and ride it out. Mobile is not directly on the beach, and the winds die off fairly quickly as you move away from the coast.

[yukon]

You evacuate for flooding, not wind. My parents lived in Mobile for decades and never evacuated, but they also did not live in flood zones. My Mobile friends who live in flood zones will evacuate depending on the severity of the storm and expected flood forecasts.

One thing you do need to be aware of is that some insurance companies no longer write homeowner policies for many hurricane areas (especially flood areas), which means the policies that are offered will be expensive.