Face To Face With Hurricane Ivan

I'm James Spann chief meteorologist for ABC 3340 and this is the story of Hurricane Ivan one of the most destructive hurricanes ever to directly strike the Alabama Gulf Coast at the time of landfall on Thursday September 16 2004 ivan was a strong Category three sustained winds 130 miles per hour with higher gusts the landfall time during the pre-dawn hours at 2:10 a.m. then during the day on Thursday September 16th Ivan moved right up through central Alabama remaining a hurricane day Uniontown in Perry County then as a tropical storm passing over Brent Birmingham Gaston ended finally moving up into Northeast Georgia needless to say the damage was extreme and widespread on the Alabama Gulf Coast in communities like Gulf Shores in Orange Beach there was tree and power line damage statewide in fact at one point 1 million Alabamians had no electrical service on this DVD you'll see I've been covered in many different ways for example meteorologist Brian Peters flew into Ivan in an Air Force hurricane hunter from Keesler Air Force Base two days before landfall during the landfall part of our Gulf Shores crew was in a condominium complex on the immediate coastline their raw footage on here is absolutely riveting you'll see segments of our live continuing coverage on ABC 3340 which lasted for three days and then of course you'll see the aftermath from the air and on the ground Hurricane Ivan could hit Cuba's west coast this evening the hurricane is already whipping up surf in Cancun Mexico right now the storm is currently clocking winds of 160 miles an hour that's a category 5 storm it's an Air Force c-130 Hercules that flies into the eye of the hurricane to measure the storm strength ABC 3340 meteorologist Brian Peters made the 14-hour flight into the eye of the hurricane for look at the brave crew tracking the monster storm the busiest person on board a hurricane hunter as we approach Ivan is the dropsonde operator drops ons are small tubes containing delicate instruments that send back data every half second as they fall an amazing rates 2500 feet per minute three drops ons are launched as we go through the eye one into the eye wall as we enter a second as we pass the center of the eye and a third as we enter the eye wall going out temperature barometric pressure and wind speed and direction from all three drops ons come into the plane and are relayed back to the National Hurricane Center the pilot and co-pilot hold the plane steady at 10,000 feet with the help of the meteorological officer his job to thread the plane through the middle of the eye just like threading a needle the flight can be routine at times for some there may even be time for a brief nap but everybody is on his toes as we approach the eye everybody wants a window seat for one of the most powerful storms on earth a category 5 hurricane ice crystal clouds cover the eye so the effect is not as dramatic but a patch of blue sky separates the top of the eye wall from the almost transparent cirrus clouds above us the ride gets bumpy as we penetrate the eye wall people bounce around as Ivan gives us a ferocious SWAT the drops on operator confirms a barometric pressure of twenty six point eight seven inches a sustained wind of 165 miles an hour and a wind gust of 216 miles an hour Ivan is a category 5 storm our pressure readings put Ivan as the sixth most intense hurricane ever in the entire Atlantic Basin in the eye of Hurricane Ivan this is Brian Peters ABC 3340 meteorologist James Spann joins us now with a look at when we can expect Ivan to crash ashore in the Gulf of Mexico James that's amazing stuff very few people get to fly into a category 5 hurricane and that was some really good stuff quickly temperatures right now upper 70s and low 80s we'll go to the radar composite across Alabama and we are relatively in good shape today showers quite light quite scattered we'll see the same thing tomorrow variably cloudy maybe a brief shower or two but the big deal is the big hurricane this could greatly and I mean greatly impact our weather by Thursday of this week the numbers have not changed all that much today Ivan still packing sustained winds of 160 miles per hour this is an amazingly dangerous category 5 hurricane the central pressure about as low as what Brian the crew measured this weekend it's down to 910 millibars now in the last couple of frames we've noticed a northward jog but it seems like in the last frame it's jogging back to the west we still think the central Gulf Coast will be threatened directly by the surra Kane later in the week now the good news we don't expect it to be as strong by the time it reaches the Alabama or the Mississippi or the Florida Gulf Coast the sustained winds will it drop down but still it should be a major hurricane here's the latest track from the Hurricane Center if this is correct Wednesday afternoon 2:00 o'clock we'll have 140 mile per hour sustained winds in Ivan just south of Gulf Shores and Mobile Bay the official track takes it in linear Pensacola during the pre-dawn hours Thursday early Thursday morning and look at this the position near Montgomery and the winds are still near 100 miles an hour if this is the case this system could create wind damage in the state like hurricane opal in 1995 and like hurricane Frederick in 1979 both of those caused major damage well inland across the state along with widespread power outages and then with time and weakens moving up through North Georgia and then back up into the northeastern states so our big day from this system will likely be Thursday we're talking the chance of flash flooding the chance of isolated small tornadoes and spiral bands around the storm and also the chance of widespread wind damage like hurricane opal in 1995 now as you saw earlier with the computer model output most of the models are still west of here I would not be shocked if they pull this track more to the west maybe including directly the Alabama Gulf Coast but of course between now and Thursday morning a lot can change but it certainly looks like we will be under the gun possibly a direct hit near Gulf Shores Orange Beach Pensacola and then some really rough weather up this way during the day Thursday needless to say we'll watch it very carefully when and where Ivan will make landfall in the u.s. is still anyone's guess what forecasters do know is Ivan is shaping up to be a monster of a hurricane good evening I'm Brenda laDawn and I'm Dave Baird here's what's happening a mandatory evacuation order is now in effect for people who live in mobile homes in Geneva County Alabama that follows a voluntary evacuation order for non residents of Baldwin County this of course is the reason for the evacuations Hurricane Ivan is churning towards the Gulf Coast this is a look at the storm as it sweeps past Cancun and with the damage from the hurricane comes victims who need help ABC 33 40s Christopher Stein joins us now live from Clanton with a look at how the Alabama Red Cross is responding to this need Christopher well Dave the Alabama mergency Operations Center has been activated and preparations for Ivan's arrival are underway meanwhile the Red Cross is preparing as well but the busy hurricane season has the organization strapped for cash so they're opening how many shelters tomorrow they've worked around the clock some for three weeks straight without a day off and while more and more Red Cross volunteers mount up to help those affected by Ivan manpower is close to being maxed out we are absolutely stretched thin it's not an issue of manpower that concerns the Red Cross there's a financial concern Charlie and Frances are believed to have cost the nonprofit organization 63 million dollars now the pressures on to replenish dwindling accounts from a financial standpoint this could be the sort of thing that could really deplete resources fortunately we've got some time for the American people to step up and help us keep the disaster relief fund replenished donations are used for food water and shelter and other items to be used by victims and while the Red Cross will accept donations for designated areas it doesn't encourage it in some cases you may have more designated for a particular area than you really need it and that's a situation we want to try and avoid the other thing it lets us do is when it goes directly into the disaster relief fund it allows us to pre deploy and get ready for the next disaster and Governor Bob Riley is briefing the media right now here at the Alabama Emergency Operations Center on the state's game plan where of course have an update on that game plan coming up tonight at ten o'clock reporting live from clan Christopher sign ABC 3340 Christopher thank you well more than 14,000 Red Cross volunteers are in the field and ready to handle whatever Ivan brings and this morning more than two dozen people left Shelby County headed for the Gulf Coast volunteers from his far away as Nevada and Idaho brought their disaster relief trucks to alabaster where they were dispatched some volunteers have been through this before but it takes a long history with the Red Cross to remember such a busy and dangerous hurricane season are allowed back in the city in the 60s yeah she was a bad one but nothing like this where you had three hurricanes major hurricanes back-to-back some volunteers are on standby because Red Cross resources are stretched thin and right now let's get a check on where Ivan is and where it's headed for that let's turn to James Spann right now James hey Brenda first off let's establish this fact we don't expect Ivan to be this strong when it makes landfall this is a rare category 5 storm but having said that forecasting the intensity of a big hurricane like this there's very little skills we'll have to watch it very carefully even if it does weaken it still should be a major hurricane that's a category three when it reaches the central Gulf Coast here's the track this is the blend of all the computer models now this red line is the official National Hurricane Center track it puts it into Pensacola early Thursday morning in the pre-dawn hours but if you notice a majority of the computer models take it west of that point over parts of Alabama which means we are definitely at risk and if these tracks are correct much of Alabama could see enough wind to cause major damage especially straight-line wind damage during the day Thursday a big situation for us we'll have much more coming up later in the weather segment Brenda alright thank you James and there are several shelters in central Alabama open for people leaving the Gulf Coast hoping to get away from Hurricane Ivan the Talladega Superspeedway has room for 30 RVs Stockdale Baptist Church will feed those camping out there Grace Community Church and Talladega Creek Baptist Church are also taking storm refugees governor Riley has declared a state of emergency in Alabama because of the approach of Hurricane Ivan the category 5 storm continues on a path that could take it to just about anywhere on the Florida or Alabama coast we'll have the latest tracks good evening I'm Brenda laDawn and I'm David here's what's happening now what you're going to look at here is the latest satellite image of Hurricane Ivan at least 68 people are now dead in its wake Ivan is taking aim at the Florida Panhandle and maybe Alabama Governor Bob Riley met with his cabinet representatives of the Red Cross and the National Weather Service to come up with a game plan if Ivan strikes Alabama right now evacuations along the coast of mobile and Baldwin counties are voluntary and the price gouging law is in effect the governor has declared a state of emergency so all rescue agencies will be ready Alabama also is full of praying people and this is a time for people who believe in prayer to say a little prayer because agencies behind us and with God's help we will make it through it an elbow peel is starting to look like Florida folks are buying up plywood and bottled water home repair store aisles of course are packed but people in South Alabama say they're ready I'm actually going to send my family over to Houston and I'm going to stay home and guard the fort and take care of our business so we're we're anticipating it we're ready for it and in Panama City a mandatory evacuation will begin at 11 a.m. tomorrow tourists began to realize they'd have to cut their vacation short business and homeowners are boarding up windows and stopping up on necessities I mean I'm a little nervous about it and I don't like it too good because I never have been in one now the unpredictable nature of the storm has caused evacuations from the Florida Keys to the Panhandle and maybe even as far west as mobile of course tracking a hurricane is a little like flying a kite you're never quite sure where it's going to go but nonetheless the predictions are essential for safety of those in their past the nine teams joy Benedict takes a closer look at what it takes to predict eivin's path it's a storm that spans more than 300 miles so it's not hard to see coming but predicting its path that's a different story it does seem like Mother Nature has a mind of her own Kevin Penn spends his days monitoring the weather he works for the national weather service in alabaster he says predicting Ivan started weeks ago I believe the disturbance came off the west coast of Africa into the Atlantic oceans Ivan was first seen on satellite as a cluster of organized thunderstorms but Herman its Frank someone had to fly into it meteorologist Brian Peters wrote inside this Air Force c-130 Hercules over the weekend to do just that they use what's called a drops in the crew actually dropped the device out of the airplane they continuously gather data as it falls through the atmosphere and hits the ocean the drop set determines air pressure lower the pressure of the stronger the winds stronger the winds the stronger the storm the difficult part comes when scientists try to predict a path you may have noticed there are usually many they're determined by previous paths of similar hurricanes and current pressure in the area there's some high pressure over Texas kind of starting to turn it more to the north right now it's believed Ivan will make landfall somewhere between New Orleans and Tallahassee and since it's expected to be a fast-moving storm it's actually being compared to hurricane opal opal hit landfall back in 1995 because of its speed opal was still a hurricane when it crossed Montgomery that means with Ivan wind damage will be a greater concern than flooding all indications are Ivan will move fast enough that yeah maybe we'll get six inches of rain somewhere now another interesting fact about hurricanes is that they actually condensed when the atmosphere is colder at night and then expand during the day that means you'll be more likely to see flooding in the overnight hours and tornadoes during the daylight in the newsroom joy Benedict ABC 3340 thank you joy and the already busy and destructive hurricane season is having a major impact on those who try to help others and as hurricane ivan approaches the Red Cross has different concerns it's not just an issue of the manpower that concerns the organization but there's a massive financial concern Hurricane Charley and Frances are believed to have caused the Red Cross 63 million dollars the nonprofit organization is now feeling the pressure to replenish its dwindling bank accounts from a financial standpoint this could be the sort of thing that could really deplete resources fortunately we've got some time for the American people to step up and help us keep the disaster relief fund replenish all donations are used for food water shelter and other items for disaster victims more than 14,000 Red Cross volunteers are ready to handle what Herr Ivan brings volunteers from as far away as Nevada and Idaho brought their disaster relief trucks to alabaster where they were dispatched some volunteers have been through this before but you need to have a long history with the Red Cross to remember a more busy or dangerous hurricane season our lab back in the city in the 60s yeah she was a bad one but nothing like this where you had three hurricanes major hurricanes back-to-back other Red Cross volunteers have been placed on standby Tala Vega County has five shelters for people escaping Hurricane Ivan the Talladega Superspeedway has room for 30 RVs the Stockdale Baptist Church will feed campers there Plus grace community church in Talladega Creek Baptist Church are taking storm refugees and the IRA nation fire department and blackberry Lane Community Church well everyone wants to know will all these preparations be needed and that depends on where eivin lands chief meteorologist James Spann has the very latest James hey Brenda and Dave this is still a very powerful hurricane category five sustained winds at 160 miles per hour you can see it passing the western tip of Cuba tonight slowly moving towards the north-northwest at about 8 miles per hour now the new computer model data beginning to come in and we'll take a look at this this is late data within the last 15 minutes and if you extrapolate this motion out it continues to carry it right up toward the Alabama Gulf Coast of course this is one model here but many of them do that and because of this the Hurricane Center within the past hour has posted a hurricane watch from East Morgan City Louisiana to st. Mark's Florida that includes all of the Alabama Gulf Coast and we still see many many indications that we might have a direct hit on the Alabama Gulf Coast late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning with major problems inland as far north as Tuscaloosa Birmingham Anniston Gaston by Thursday afternoon we're talking the potential for widespread tree and powerline damage this is an ABC 33:40 special report preparing for either ivenn forces an exodus along Alabama's Gulf Coast this monster storm that's already laid to waste island after island in the Caribbean leaving many in Alabama to fear the worst for their homes and businesses but he could probably level out everything down down here on the coast and everything and it's not just the coasts that could feel Ivan's terrible wrath we're going to be looking at hurricane winds all the way up to Birmingham good evening and thanks for joining us for this special report preparing for Hurricane Ivan it's a powerful category 4 hurricane expected to make landfall along Alabama's Gulf Coast early Thursday morning sometime between 4 and 7 o'clock let's go live now to Gulf Shores this is a live look at the surf and weather conditions there will deteriorate rapidly in about 24 hours and the landfall point should be very close to either Gulf Shores Fort Morgan or Dauphin Island down in Far South Alabama let's go now to our pinpoint neighborhood weather net site at the Alabama State Park at Gulf Shores we can show live weather conditions from there we're watching the wind numbers and so far the wind is not that extreme the winds are averaging out of the East at 19 during the day tomorrow those will likely increase rapidly to 50 by afternoon and by early Thursday morning we could see winds down here well over 100 and so far today about a third of an inch of rain at Gulf Shores 33 hundreds of an inch parts of the Alabama Gulf Coast could easily see over five inches of rain now let's go and take a look at what's happening with the latest on our sky tracker system this is fairly impressive now keep in mind the center of this storm is still way off in the Gulf of Mexico but notice now the nice banding features coming from coastal radars we have no radar across the ocean so we can see the circulation from radars as far away as mobile as Eglin Air Force Base as Tallahassee and Tampa the March continues slowly towards the north at about 10 miles per hour and we're still targeting Dauphin Island in Mobile County for landfall early Thursday we'll take a look at the satellite perspective and the numbers have not changed at all since we last spoke at six o'clock this is a dangerous category 4 hurricane maximum sustained winds at 140 miles per hour excellent symmetry there's no evidence of any shearing there's no evidence of any weakening this afternoon in fact if anything the system is actually better Oregon and it's right on track now the hurricane warning extends all the way from Southeast Louisiana to Apalachicola but that warning is centered directly on the Alabama Gulf Coast want to run the latest computer model this is an in-house model we run and there has been no change in our track the model takes it into Mobile Bay early Thursday morning and then moves it up to a point near Clinton during the day Friday the troubling issue with this and we pointed this out in the early newscast it looks like the models are trying to slow down Ivan in response the higher pressure north of the system notice the time here this is Friday at 12:00 noon if that's the case we could see a very long period of high wind and heavy rain that will increase the chance of flooding across the entire state it could be Saturday before the wind and the rain finally move out of the state here's a look at the official forecast track coming from the National Hurricane Center and like the track we saw on that model it has not changed all that much National Hurricane Center projecting landfall at approximately Dauphin Island or Mobil one very important point we don't want you to focus on that one red line because this is a huge hurricane in terms of the wind envelope the hurricane-force winds extend out 100 miles from the center tropical storm force winds extend out over 250 miles in fact here's a look at the graphic showing the tropical storm force winds in light blue the hurricane force winds in yellow and the darker colors will put this in motion and watch what happens these tropical storm force winds reach a point near Montgomery by 5 o'clock tomorrow afternoon and by the time this reaches the Gulf Coast early Thursday morning more than likely we'll see tropical storm force winds in the greater Birmingham area and by the way that's winds in excess of 39 miles per hour the weather conditions will continue to deteriorate during the day on Thursday and we will have great great impact across the northern end of the state here's the bottom line if you live in places like Birmingham Tuscaloosa Anniston Gaston basically anyone that can watch me in our television market this is what to expect sustained winds that's constant winds from 50 to 70 miles per hour during the peak of the storm now the gusts could be as high as 70 to 90 miles per hour needless to say with these numbers we could see extensive widespread tree and powerline dam and this is a remarkable fact here we could see sustained winds of 30 miles per hour for 30 consecutive hours needless to say if he got something outdoors like lawn furniture trash cans get those secured and into a place where they can't blow away rainfall totals 6 to 12 inches flash flooding will be a major issue especially if the trend continues towards slowing this down isolated tornadoes possible and spiral bands coming around Ivan and we believe the worst time for us will be from roughly 7:00 o'clock Thursday morning through 1 o'clock Friday afternoon now down on the coast Christopher sign of ABC 3340 has been covering the storm throughout the day and Christopher how are preparations going down your way I think the key word here James is stressful this is an extremely stressful time for the people here on Gulf Shores after all Ivan could be the most intense hurricane to hit this area in some 25 years when Frederick hit this area and there's no question today people worked extremely hard to meet the deadline the race against the clock is winding down the sound of electric saws and drills echo through Gulf Shores as many evacuated to the north others found themselves in a mad dash for the hottest commodity why would business owner Glenn wait drove two hours to Mississippi for his load of lumber it's hard to get you know they were selling like say yesterday 63 thousand sheets of our as gasoline supplies ran low some propane companies little flame to depressurize the holding tanks the usually busy city of Gulf Shores became a ghost town they told us to be out by 10:00 we're going to cut off elevators to power and water as the Sun set and the crashing waves came in each with a little more force local stops predicting what may happen first ruin hotel and there's no tell with the rush to find plywood slow him down many just decided to pack up everything we're just moving out because whatever is left is going to be ruined which is taking the best of everything leaving and a mandatory evacuation has been issued for this area and starting tomorrow around noon several bridges in the Gulf Shores area will be shut down as well and the National Guard will be on hand going around and checking the areas and of course expecting major structural damage reporting live from Gulf Shores Christopher sine ABC 33 40 crispa thank you very much the state of Alabama ordered evacuations in South Alabama from interstate 10 south that's basically the southern half of Baldwin and Mobile counties those evacuation orders are one of the lessons learned after hurricane opal hit the state nine years ago there are many parallels between opal and Ivan ABC 3340 meteorologist Brian Peters part of our team on the gulf coast Brian you're an old-timer like me you've done these hurricanes many times over the years give me your perspective how does this stack up with Opel and Frederick well James this one really scares me because when you think about Frederick and you think about Opel and you think about the extent of damage that occurred you got to remember that Ivan is already a category higher than either one of those storms and Opel did extreme damage all the way up the Alabama Georgia line all the way to the Tennessee line so this one is really a worrisome storm as it's moving as you said slowly northward at the present rate of movement we do expect tropical storm force winds to be on the coastline tomorrow morning increasing through the day and possibly by sunset up to hurricane force ok Brian have some video go ahead wait we have some video of the of my flight Saturday into Ivan I must admit having flown in it didn't seem as bad but then I was wrapped in the protective cocoon of a c-130 I'm not in that cocoon now we're out here where people have made precautions they've boarded up buildings it's almost become a ghost town here that was my question Brian you've been through so many of these you sense that people really did take this evacuation order seriously this time I sensed that they really did I I can't help but think that the effects of Charlie and the effects of Francis has really attracted a lot of attention and people really are taken this seriously now that today has been a relatively quiet day weather-wise as a matter of fact it's been a very good weather day I can't help but wonder if perhaps today was a lot like the Saturday before the Galveston 1900 hurricane that killed over six thousand people the weather became very very nice fortunately flags were up telling people not to go swimming but we've already seen the beginning of damage notice this video taken just before sunset of the erosion that's already taken place along the beach now it's relatively subtle but we were told by folks that this used to slope off just nice and gradually and already you can see a bit of a shelf where some of the sand is being washed out this is definitely going to be a major storm for Alabama in the southeastern US and we've got to remember it could be and will probably be worse than Frederick and worse than opal okay Brian thank you very much we'll be checking with Brian often throughout the next two days ABC 3340 is gearing up to bring you complete coverage of hurricane Ivan's landfall our news audio will be simulcast on several radio stations Thursday during our long-form coverage that way you can hear us on your radio get complete updates on 91.9 FM in Birmingham 101.5 FM license to Columbiana and 107.9 in Tuscaloosa and also this evening our report is on 92.7 hundred ninety two seven in Anniston coming up on the special report see how local utilities are gearing up for Hurricane Ivan Birmingham city officials have already decided to close schools Thursday and Friday as Ivan comes inland in Alabama Auburn University has canceled classes for the rest of the week Alabama State and Auburn University in Montgomery are canceling classes for Wednesday other central Alabama school districts plan to decide on closings tomorrow we also have word tonight that Birmingham area Catholic schools are closed on Thursday and Friday of course the other big worry is Ivan moves inland this week the problems with your power Alabama powers preparing for the possibility of major power disruptions Alabama Power spokeswoman Cary Kurlander joins us now live from the utilities storm center and that's the big question I've heard all day Carrie the people are hearing we might be without power for seven days or longer is that true well James you all have been doing an excellent job of helping people expect the worst and when you're talking about an event of this size category for our category 5 there are going to be sustained outages what you see behind me is what we call the storm center and the people who work here 24/7 they've been here for a few days they coordinate our resources so they will be prepared to mobilize massive amounts of people trucks materials at a given moment and be able to concentrate those resources on heaviest hit areas carry the comparable storm for many people in recent memory was hurricane opal in 1995 approximately a half million people within the dark in Alabama how long did it take to get everybody back online with that one that you're right James that was about four hundred and seventy-five thousand folks who had outages and it was about seven days to restore fully restore that storm and that was a pretty good record so that does give you some context to understand a storm of this magnitude if it's even bigger we could be looking at sustained outages seven days but we just we won't know until it comes in carry if during the day Thursday one is home the power goes out do they need to report that outage to the power company yes we would encourage people to report their outages to 802 for 5 to two four four and James while you're at it I'd also encourage people to report any down lines that they see obviously safety is a key issue when we are looking at massive outages we're looking at a lot of downed lines we would encourage people to assume that they are all live obviously keep your children keep your pets keep yourself away from those lines and do call in and report those lines as you see them down assume they're live stay away from them and let us know Kerry thank you very much and thanks in advance for the work the power company will do over the course of the next seven days the Jefferson County Emergency Management Agency opened its Emergency Operations Center tonight the EMAs Allen can I purchase now in the studio and Allen tell me what you have been doing in your agency in preparation for the storm today for the Birmingham metro area we've basically been wording all our response mergency response forces to be prepared go ahead and check all vehicles check our critical facilities and make those preparations we need we pre position a lot of our boats on our low-lying areas where we have to go rescue people and others but again as we hope everybody in our citizens do do not be driving they're out in those kind of weathers and don't drive through standing water it creates problems for us looking back on some of the big hurricanes that came through Birmingham in years past you do think of an opal and 95 of Frederick in 1979 what were some of the problems with previous hurricanes that came through Birmingham of this size in the past Allen as any will have a lot of debris down trees down and low-lying areas will be with a lot of water trapped in those areas we still buys our citizens to have a family protection plan emergency supply kit for 72 hours and officials will be working very closely with getting people back on line as quick as possible we have a lot of people watching and listening to this program right now that are perhaps just getting back from work and they realize this is a serious situation what should they do in the next 18 hours to get ready to give some specific steps that people need to do right now we're encouraging all our citizens have a 72-hour supply kit emergency supply kit if they're not sure what's in that they contact our office at 2:54 203 9 or the Red Cross national office or on the Internet at Tanny landcom get that checklist make sure you've got especially a battery-powered radio that will tune in to the news media TV stations and radio stations to get mergency information and we work very closely with media getting out their water supply non-perishable food and those kind of items and a flashlight especially at nighttime and one more question for you Allen in the Birmingham metro area this is a transportation hub we're talking the International Airport we're talking the major interstate systems how do you believe in your opinion this will impact travel in the greater Birmingham metro area on Thursday and Friday hopefully we've got enough of our citizens a potato to eat to take in heat to what we're saying and won't be out traveling so much on Thursday and Friday we'll probably have a lot of downed trees restricted to traveling a lot of ways our public works crews will be up as soon as we can and get out on the roadways and clearing those questions we can for emergency response to people we probably look at restricted travel at the airports because the planes can't land and take off in those areas so we just people need to be aware that don't go out in public unless you have to okay Allen thank you very much for you and your agency's work coming up in our special report a look at the mass evacuations taking place along Alabama's Gulf Coast you're looking live at the ABC 3340 staff on the scene at Gulf Shores we have a large crew there they'll be helping us with coverage over the next three days we appreciate their work and we should point out that many shelters are now being opened in central Alabama one of our greatest concerns it's for those people that live in manufactured housing and let me just say this if you live in a mobile home and I'm talking all 67 Alabama counties and especially those watching us tonight you need to identify a place where you can go tomorrow and then tomorrow you need to go there whether it's a shelter whether it's a friend a neighbor perhaps someone you go to church with you need to make those arrangements tonight and plan to be there for a couple of days on Thursday and Friday we will have a complete list of shelters beginning running on the air late tonight on the ABC 3340 dot-com website complete Ivan's section is available there many people have already left Alabama's beaches headed north for higher ground in an effort to escape Ivan's fierce winds and rain Kevin Stewart of our new staff now joins us live Kevin you talked with many people fleeing from Ivan today yeah I sure did in particular college students who are trying to get out of town obviously if you have a child down here on the Gulf Coast you're going to be at least a big concern I can tell you that the University of South Alabama has about 200 students from Jefferson County alone different kind of brush on mobiles college campuses the rushes of water windows the rush of students to get off campus actually I know my mom's actually thinking well okay I can't send my child off to school three hours away from here you know and only thing I'm thinking about is you know my child being safe and being in that comfort zone you know I'm saying so when something like this happens you know that really you know agitate Stan so right now I think she wants me home I know University of South Alabama students Stephanie sharp and korn Wilson are packing up ready to get back home to Selma hoping it is far enough from Ivan's terror I stay with my grandparents so I just want to make sure they in the state of comfort you know be there to uh know consoling them and make sure they're all right most families are not just a bit worried about their children they are extremely worried but Pelham's Caitlin Mac Albania says her parents are very calm about all this I don't really think they understand have it's going to be they seem kind of in denial because I mean I'm freaking out and they're just real calm about it and they're like oh it's gonna be okay you just don't worry about it I'm like okay whatever we get blown away down here students here just found out this morning they had to evacuate campus by 1 p.m. students without a place to stay can stay on campus two buildings are set up as shelters mcillhenny isn't going to a shelter she isn't even going back home to Metro Birmingham I'm going to Louisville Kentucky one that's where my boyfriend is from and he is driving up there and I figure the farther I get away the better so I don't want to pay for a hotel or anything also they are clearing out on the Spring Hill College campus imagine what 18-year old Greg most folks must be feeling tonight they don't get storms with eivin's fury like this back on Maryland's coast what did mom and dad have to say they just want me to get away from the coast there on that side of them all right now baby net is the county seat here in Baldwin County it's in the northern part of the county and James you could probably give folks a better idea is that a better place to ride out the storm than say a mobile yes it is Bay Minette is a little more inland the farther north you go obviously the better off you'll be so that's not a bad place to be scanned to be awfully windy and wet but it beats being right there south of Interstate 10 for anybody that watches us with relatives in mobile or Baldwin counties the prime concern those people's south of Interstate 10 Bay Minette is north of Interstate 10 coming up next hear from an Alabama woman who wrote out Ivan's fury in Jamaica Hurricane Ivan is one of the strongest storms on record in the Atlantic Basin it's already swept through nine countries in the Caribbean Ivan so far is blamed for 68 deaths in countries paralyzed by horrible damage Angela Mabry saw the hurricane hit Jamaica right in the middle of her honeymoon Mabry rode out the storm on the fifth floor of a Jamaican resort she says the winds were more fierce than any tornado bending the palm trees around and howling through the boarded up windows you could hear the wind coming through the window panes where they had those boarded up as well and you could hear it howling real real loud and it went on like that for total probably about four or five o'clock the next morning that was an ordeal that she will never forget ABC 3340 news will open a hurricane helpline tomorrow at 12 noon it will be staffed by ABC 3340 news employees our goal is to give you up to date information on shelters and other preparation plans for this storm we've also developed a partnership with these area radio stations to carry an on-air signal Thursday of our audio in other words you can hear us on your radio across central Alabama on those radio stations 91.9 in Birmingham 101.5 in Shelby County 107.9 in Tuscaloosa and a late edition in East Alabama in Anniston 92.7 stay with ABC 3340 news for the most complete coverage of this storm now one more time let's review what will likely happen for the next couple of days this is the current position of Ivan down in the southern Gulf of Mexico the track is unchanged we are very confident that landfall will be on the central Gulf Coast very close to Mobile Bay and notice the huge wind field with this storm that's one point we'd like to stress don't focus on the point in the middle tropical storm force winds extend outward over 250 miles hurricane-force winds that 75 mile-per-hour winds are greater extend out over 100 miles this is five o'clock tomorrow afternoon and you can see based on the model projection hurricane-force wind should begin at Gulf Shores Orange Beach Dauphin Island on the Alabama Gulf Coast there's no sign of weakening at all we'll get a new reconnaissance reports shortly we'll have that on the news coming up tonight at 10 o'clock but it looks like this will come home is a very major hurricane and one more time this is what you can expect during the day Thursday into Thursday night over almost all of North and central Alabama sustained winds of 50 to 70 that would likely create widespread tree and powerline damage and as you heard earlier make plans now for long extended power outages some people could be without power for one week winds gusting from 70 to 90 miles per hour the sustained winds will likely exceed 30 miles per hour for 30 hours this will be a long onslaught of high wind and very heavy rain speaking of rain 6 to 12 inches some spots could see one foot especially if Ivan slows down isolated tornadoes worst weather 7 o'clock Thursday to 1 o'clock Friday it looks like this could indeed be a benchmark storm for Alabama perhaps the inland effects stronger than Frederick the storm in 1979 and ople the storm in 1992 perhaps even stronger inland than Camille in 1969 preparation is the key we urge you to be prepared tonight for this big storm more coming up on ABC 3340 news in one hour at ten o'clock ABC 33 40s Kevin Stewart is live in the Gulf Shores where officials are bracing for the worst Kevin what can you tell us well Maggie those winds are picking up if a picture is worth a thousand words then maybe this behind me is worth a thousand won the red flag is up and Gulf of Mexico is coming in fast about a about 20 minutes ago 15 minutes ago we began to see water move in about 30 yards up to about the boardwalk here boardwalk here at the Gulf State Park I want to show you some video we shot earlier late last night and early this morning we drove along highway 59 north and what you see is pretty much what you get go Shores is boarded up taped up even Walmart is closed and of course that is extremely unusual when you get to about Locksley which is just south of i-10 that's when you began to see some activity now over in Mobile County Downtown and Midtown Mobile with its grand old trees and historic old homes pretty quiet right now downtown hotels in Mobile County near Mobile Bay are going to be shutting down this morning you more than likely know that Mobile is one of the radius cities in the country and that area downtown does not take rain very well evacuations are in Baldwin County from south of i-10 which is where we are here on Gulf Shores and I'm told and people who have not evacuated but can get their selves over to the local high schools will be taken to some type of shelter because right now there are no shelters available here in Baldwin County we'll continue to follow the story and have another update for you in the next half hour reporting live from Gulf Shores Kevin Stewart ABC 3340 well Kevin thank you so much for that report and of course we'll continue to check back with you throughout the morning meteorologist John olds who continues to track Hurricane Ivan and he John now joins us with the very latest yeah we're going to take a look here first off at sky tracker show you this morning with the network of radars are starting to pick up and that of course is the outer rain bands of Ivan moving inland now the big question on everybody's mind and what we continue to get here in the weather office is what are we going to expect this is it take a look at these certain facts that we have about the storm if we could switch over to the graphic system thank you sustained winds 50 to 70 miles per hour gusts from 70 to 90 miles per hour 30 mile-per-hour winds for over 24 to 30 hours rainfall of 6 to 12 inches isolated tornadoes Wynne is the prime time for all of this to take place starting about 7:00 a.m. tomorrow morning and lasting till about noon or 1:00 p.m. on Friday get ready this is going to be a historic storm not only for a coastal Alabama but for Central and North Alabama as well all right will show you a good look at the hurricane this morning here on the satellite and this jumps around just a little bit but in the last few frames here when it moves notice that we're losing some of the coloring in there that is a good thing I will say that why that did not decrease the wind speeds with this on the 4:00 a.m. update the barometric pressure was up in the storm and definitely looking a little bit ragged here on this last satellite photograph but still a category 4 storm with 140 mile per hour winds about 200 miles south of Mobile Bay at this time a lot of things going on in everybody's minds today you've got still some time to prepare you can see that we do have some of the outer rain bands coming onto the coast it will be awhile before they make it into the central and northern Alabama probably by late this afternoon in those rain bands the wind is going to pick up and you may see some gusts between 25 and 30 miles per hour but until then you've got some time to watch this storm or prepare for this storm here is a look at what the forecast is landfall somewhere from the Alabama Mississippi border over to Mobile Bay tomorrow morning this has 8:00 a.m. on Thursday maybe a little bit sooner than forecasted here seen some projections this may be as early as 3:00 a.m. one of the good points with this though is that they're now projecting the storm to move a little bit slower that will allow the storm to weaken some by the time it gets into our area but I still think we're going to see some sustained winds between 50 and 70 miles per hour then the storm will move on upwards into Tennessee and may meander through parts of Tennessee and become a real flooding threat even around here with six to 12 inches of rain we could have problems with flooding as well a real quick look at where we expect power outages scattered power outages through coastal Alabama by about 4 a.m. tomorrow and then of course that will move northward throughout the day so get ready for some extended periods without power like we've been talking about you could be without power for 3 4 5 maybe even as long as a week as we've been looking at some of the estimates with opal 475,000 people lost power some folks didn't have it back for a week cloudy and breezy showers by afternoon an east wind at 10 to 20 miles per hour today 84 is your high some gusts as high as 25 miles per hour heavy rain tonight damaging wind possible 70 is a low east wind at 25 gusts up to 60 that's mainly after midnight and more towards the morning hours here's a look at the seven day planner of course the heavy rain the wind the power outages all take place tomorrow and like we said this is going to start about 7:00 a.m. tomorrow and last through about noon Friday or 1 p.m. that'll be the time that we'll be watching for the heavy rain the damaging winds and isolated tornadoes across the area maybe some rain lingering through Friday and Saturday and into Sunday and hopefully drier and nicer as we head into next week Maggie all right John thank you for that update the National Hurricane Center describes Ivan as large and extremely dangerous the Gulf Coast is preparing for the Hurricanes landfall and ABC 33 40s Kevin Stewart is live in Gulf Shores with an update Kevin Maggie the waves continue to rush the beach here at Gulf Shores we've got new video just in shot by award-winning photographer Bill Cassell want to take a look at this the ways are now approaching beach Proc beachfront property like this hotel near seeing suds I would say that the water is probably coming in about 40 yards off the shore which is eroding as the Sun begins to come up with getting a better view of what's happening behind us right now with the the ways are pretty impressive I'll have another live update coming up for you in just a bit Martindale Shores Kevin Stewart ABC 3340 all right Kevin thank you so very much ABC 3340 has news crews on the Alabama Gulf Coast our reporters Kevin Stewart and Christopher sign along with meteorologist Brian Peters are in Gulf Shores right now let's go to Kevin Stewart live in Gulf Shores heaven Linda it is raining right now and really we began to first feel some sprinkles a little mist probably around 7 o'clock after our last live report on a good morning Alabama them if you take a look behind me you'll see something that's really incredible we've begun to see the water just fill up the beach here at Gulf Shores we began seeing this I can tell you I was out here doing live reports at 10 o'clock last night where we were doing our live shots that's covered by water right now the beach has eroded it's been really bad out here and really this is only the beginning really I want to take you back and show you some video that we shot not too long ago this is video giving you indication of wind speeds the the palm trees blowing clearly in excess of 20 miles an hour and winds will begin to pick up when you look way back into the Gulf you can see the waves the incredible pictures of ways for that as far as the eye can see I would guess that the ways that those breakers they're at about eight feet tall I want to take you back actually to about 8:30 to give you an idea what things are looking at looking like at that time much has changed since our first live reports here on the beach at five o'clock daybreak has given us a clear visual of just how much the beach has leveled off because we're ocean and by seven o'clock we came out here the water was rushing across the beach but there was not water filling up this area on the beach all right we're back out live and meteorologist Brian Peters joins me Brian is going to be of immense help to us out here to help do the signs out here and teaches what's going on and teach everybody at home what's going on a Brian one of the things that we've been talking about is the difference between the eye of the hurricane which is supposed to go over Dauphin Island and the north I mean excuse me the eastern quadrant which is supposed to be the worst part which is where we're standing right now can you explain that to me right a lot of people look at a hurricane as a point we focus on the eye and we put the latitude the longitude and if you put that on a map it's a pencil point that's not a hurricane you have to keep in mind that hurricane force winds go out nearly 100 miles from that Center so we have to think of this as an entire entity not just that point and why is it on the eastern side that is so strong you're trying to explain to me that it's kind of like the engine almost well what's happening is you have to remember that as the storm is moving you're adding the motion of the storm to the east side or you know based on the direction that is going and you're subtracting it from the west side now when a storm is moving at 10 or 15 miles an hour as Ivan is that doesn't seem to be a lot but that actually makes a 30 knot or almost a 35 mile an hour difference between the wind's on the east side and the wind's on the west side plus the storms tend to be not completely symmetric during Ivan's lifetime so far through the Caribbean it was a very symmetric storm at times but dry air has now drawn into the west side of the storm this dry air is a negative influence on Ivan and we've seen the cloud pattern basically erode on the western side and has caused a little bit of a decrease in Ivan sort of what we expected to happen not much as John just said jazz 10 10 miles an hour 10 knots or so but that's enough to bring things down a little bit and anything we can take off the top of this storm would be great but a category 4 is still still a category 4 jeff myers a photographer I want him to pan back out here into the Gulf one of the things that I thought was really interesting is we're going to die down a bit but about an hour ago around 9 o'clock or so the pictures were absolutely I'm standing out here getting wet and was amazed at how dark and Misty it was it's cleared up but you can still see that is that are those well out rain that they're clear clouds and rain it's a combination but what's happening is we're now into that rain shield before we were in the clear and it was only sprinkling as you pointed out but now we've gotten into that big rain shield if you look at it on radar you see that we're on the edge of that rain chance so it doesn't look as dark as when it's approaching us right now another thing you pointed out earlier is that when we got here yesterday you could see three maybe four waves late yesterday afternoon now out over that water out over the Gulf you can see waves as far as we can see which is not a great deal of distance with our visibility being reduced by the rain and Brian thank you very much we're going to continue to monitor the storm reporter Chris Sun is also on the scene here he's going to have an update coming up for us in a little bit crying laughing bell shores Kevin Stewart ABC 3340 ABC 33 40s Christopher sign is watching the waves down at the Gulf Shores we have information for you right now from Christopher sign okay Linda I'm actually on the the third step of a series of steps that lead down to the beach I had actually planned on being on the sand itself but the water has just rushed in it's actually a foot deep in this area just below us as these waves continue to crash in and the winds continue to pick up the sand is beginning to also pick up it and somewhat slap me in the face if you will also these winds and this rain is a huge concern to the people in this area I want to show you now some video that was taken just a few moments ago from photographer Bill castle if we could go ahead and roll that video these waves have just been crashing into the piers the winds have picked up the waves have have a curling pattern to them if you will if you've ever been on the west coast or if you followed any surfers events you can see that they call it a pipeline and that's what a lot of these waves are doing and these waves have just swept in as the outer bands of Ivan have entered this area people of course have been somewhat taunting Ivan saying come on Ivan putting them on the boards of their homes and situations like that but this is a storm that is not to be taken lightly it's extremely dangerous now back out live now I'm just trying to give you an idea of the winds that are beginning to pick up in this area and the water right there right there there it is the water continues to rise and continues to pound this area it was just 10 years ago in this entire beach was actually renovated and the sand had been brought in after previous hurricanes and previous storms and the entire area had been redone they're expecting now this beach to be someone washed out and where I'm standing they're expecting at least 3 feet of sand in this area and by one o'clock the winds here could be in excess of 50 miles per hour they're now asking for people that are in this area to leave there is a mandatory evacuation but some people have decided to stick around and as the wind continues to come in and the rain continues to come in this area is simply going to get a pounding let's go back to you in the studio Kristopher we saw the signs come on Ivan but any signs of folks out there on the on the coast earlier this morning there were some people out here on lookers if you will a lot of people with video cameras and and typical cameras were out here just taking some photographs of the waves as they came in and of course this is somewhat of a historical situation for these people because the the rain and the wind and the beach erosion has not been like this in almost 25 years that's when Frederick hit this area and now they're simply watching their Beach somewhat erode away this entire area Jeff if we could just uh pan out just a little bit this entire area we were actually out here last night at 10 o'clock the area are looking at this is where people sunbathe and and play volleyball and and it's a state park and right now the entire area is being washed away it's a it's quite amazing and it's quite a scene to actually look at these waves as they continue to crash in easing but it also scary and folks should heed the warning of getting out Thank You Christopher we'll check back in with you you hear is talking about the Hurricanes and looking at them on radar and watch them on satellite but nothing beats eyes on the ground and that's where Kevin Stewart is and we're going to check in with him now Kevin John we haven't been able to do lot of shots for you down here in Gulf Shores because we had to move to safety I want to roll some video for you not only has the beach begun to flood but now go sure Parkway go straight stay far away a right there you can see we had to move out of the way because police said if we did not leave the park now right now we are about a mile inland we're at a strip mall right now when Dixie actually we're not too far from Gulf Shores a City Hall and we're going to continue to ride out the storm here and continue to follow file reports for you right now you can see that it's a light rain right now not too bad and in fact was surprised not too surprising though is that now that we've moved off the beach the wind is a little bit different out here John Kevin that's incredible yeah you're starting to see that storm surge get blown out ahead of this on the eastern side the storm storm wind's coming out of the south and just moving this wall of water up towards Gulf Shores and that's probably why you're starting to see that coastal flooding there give you the particulars on this storm at the 10:00 a.m. update from the National Hurricane Center they dropped the wind speeds a little bit down to 135 miles per hour still a category 4 storm and let me tell you this they still forecasted to come inland as a category 4 storm and if that happens it will be probably the only category 4 storm we've seen in the last hundred years I went back through the records and looked at them all the ones that have come in 'land that you remember Frederick opal have all been category three storms that have impacted the coast of alabama of course Camille was a cat5 but she came inland over Mississippi ones that have come in 'land over coastal Alabama have all been category three storms everybody measures kind of what they expect a hurricane to be or how to measure the winds and the effects from Hurricane Frederick and opal Frederick moved through in 1979 opal came through in 1995 both made a lot of power outages folks were without power for weeks and something we probably are going to see from this storm we've had wind gusts to already show you our weather net they're not bad yet 27 at Aniston 20 at Gaston 22 at Talladega 22 at Clinton 23 at Birmingham but they're going to come up go ahead and show you the satellite here we'll mention this we've also been watching a buoy that's down south of Dauphin Island it is now reporting wind sustained winds of 50 miles per hour gust up to 67

Channel: ABC 33/40 Weather

Views: 34,867

Keywords: James, Spann, ABC, 3340, 33/40, Alabama, weather, Brian, Peters

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Length: 60min 9sec (3609 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 16 2013