Hurricane damaged bulkhead in Gulf Shores
what Sally, Ivan and others did

Hurricane Sally, September 2020

Sally's eye crossed the coast at Gulf Shores just before 5 a.m. on September 16, 2020. It was a Category 2 hurricane with 95-knot sustained winds. NHC Sally report

Water stood 5 to 7 feet above ground at the worst spots along the Baldwin County coast. The heaviest damage came in the back bays and sounds, east of Gulf Shores toward Florida and in Perdido Bay. The surge wrecked many docks and piers there. NHC Sally damage summary

• A storm chaser logged 965 millibars near the coast in Gulf Shores, the basis for NHC's landfall pressure. NHC Sally report
• Fort Morgan recorded 87 knots sustained with a 105-knot gust, roughly 100 mph sustained. NHC Sally winds
• Rain reached 29.3 inches near Fort Morgan. NHC Sally rainfall
• NWS Mobile saw almost no structural damage on the beaches facing the Gulf, but major flood damage along the back-bay shores. NWS Mobile Baldwin County report

Bay-side owners can read the Fort Morgan bay guide and the Weeks Bay and Fish River guide.

What Sally did to walls and docks

Why did walls fail from the back side?

Sally's surge kept rain from draining into tidal rivers and bays. Several Baldwin County gauges recorded their highest levels on record, including Fish River near Silverhill. NHC Sally flooding

Water trapped behind a wall pushes soil out through joints and weep holes. The result can be a hollow yard behind a wall that still looks straight.

What about docks and piers?

• NHC reports many docks and piers destroyed and a section of the Gulf State Park Pier lost. NHC Sally damage
• FEMA public assistance for Sally in Gulf Shores included $4,762,168 for engineered beaches. FEMA public assistance records
• Sally hit six weeks before Zeta, so a wall weakened in September faced a second test in late October. NHC Zeta report

Get a post-storm check on your wall. See seawall assessment and the soil loss and drainage guide.

Hurricane Ivan, September 2004

Ivan was the Gulf-front wave and erosion storm. It came ashore at about 1:50 a.m. on September 16, 2004, just west of Gulf Shores, as a Category 3 hurricane with 105-knot winds. NHC Ivan report

• Storm surge of 10 to 15 feet hit the shore from the western Florida Panhandle across to Baldwin County. Beach erosion destroyed or severely damaged many beachfront homes and condos, and some collapsed when waves scoured sand from under them. NHC Ivan surge and damage
• A storm-chaser reading near Gulf Shores showed 77 knots sustained and a 99-knot gust. NHC Ivan winds
• NOAA buoy 42040 south of Alabama may have measured a record 52.5-foot wave. NHC Ivan waves
• At Perdido Pass the Corps' gauge peaked at 8.8 feet NGVD in Ivan. Corps tide-gage table

Rain fell on ground already soaked by Bonnie and Frances. NHC Ivan rain After Ivan, Gulf Shores adopted a three-foot freeboard in 2005 for areas south of Fort Morgan Road, a rule it later revised. Gulf Shores council memo

Gulf-front owners should read the Fort Morgan Gulf guide and the Gulf-front armoring guide.

Georges, Katrina and the older storms

Older storms set the high marks that today's flood maps and codes are built on. Surge estimates in Baldwin County were 7 to 12 feet in Georges (1998), with 11.9 feet at Fort Morgan. NHC Georges report

Sources: NWS Frederic NHC Georges report NHC Ivan report NHC Katrina report FEMA Katrina marks

• Danny (1997) put 6.5 feet of surge on Highway 182 halfway between Fort Morgan and Gulf Shores. NWS Danny report
• Gulf-front surge numbers and bay-side numbers differ sharply. Katrina marks dropped to about 5 feet at the eastern end of Bon Secour Bay. FEMA Katrina marks

West Beach marks are explained in the West Beach guide.

Zeta, Nate and Isaias

Smaller storms still test walls and docks. Zeta passed on October 29, 2020, with 58 knots sustained and a 68-knot gust at Fort Morgan. NHC Zeta winds

• Zeta's surge destroyed several piers on the Eastern Shore and damaged the seawall at the Fairhope Pier. NHC Zeta report Baldwin County was not in Zeta's major disaster declaration. OpenFEMA Zeta counties
• Nate in 2017 damaged just under 200 Baldwin County piers, 62 of them badly. NWS Nate report
• Isaias in October 2026 came ashore in the Florida Panhandle, not at Gulf Shores. Baldwin County had no deaths, about 45 percent of customers lost power, and no major disaster declaration as of October 31. NWS Isaias report OpenFEMA Isaias

FEMA owner data for ZIP 36542

FEMA's owner housing-assistance data shows how hard each storm hit Gulf Shores homes. Ivan's damage per inspected home was more than double Sally's in the same ZIP. These figures count owner-occupied homes only, and ZIP 36542 also covers Fort Morgan lots outside the city. Census ZIP overlap

Sources: OpenFEMA Sally owner data OpenFEMA Ivan owner data

• Katrina in 2005 produced 344 registrations and 167 approvals in the same ZIP. OpenFEMA Katrina owner data
• Across Baldwin County, Sally drew 21,127 owner registrations and about $21 million in approved aid. OpenFEMA Sally county totals
• Foley saw 4,133 Sally registrations, which shows how much inland loss came from rain and wind. OpenFEMA Sally Foley data

What to do in the first hours and days

Protect people first, then your records, then your wall. Do not start permanent work on a damaged wall until you know which permit path applies.

1. Hours 0 to 24. Stay off a damaged wall and dock. Photograph the wall, the cap, the yard and any sinkholes before cleanup.
2. Days 1 to 3. Call your insurer. A named-storm deductible, usually a percentage of insured value, may apply to the house. Alabama Department of Insurance
3. Days 3 to 14. Have a marine contractor or engineer check tiebacks, cap and soil. Ask your local building office whether a substantial damage review applies. Gulf Shores Code Sec. 7-86
4. Weeks 2 to 6. Start permits. Emergency work has its own federal and state path. ALGP-15 emergency permit ADEM emergency rule

• FEMA home repair aid may cover a retaining wall only if its damage is a serious threat to the home. FEMA home repair guidance
• With an SBA disaster home loan, up to 20 percent of verified damage can be added for protective work such as seawalls. SBA disaster loan fact sheet

The repair clock matters. Nationwide Permit 3 covers a storm-damaged structure if work starts within two years. 2026 Nationwide Permit 3 See seawall insurance, the permit guide and repair or replace.

Gauges: what Baldwin County can and cannot measure

Today NOAA keeps no tide gauge anywhere on the Baldwin County shore. The closest working stations are Dauphin Island (8735180), Mobile and Pensacola. NOAA CO-OPS station list

• The Gulf State Park Pier gauge (8731269) showed open-Gulf tides swing only about 1.4 feet. NOAA pier gauge datums
• The Weeks Bay gauge (8732828) ran from 2007 until it was removed on April 7, 2022. NOAA Weeks Bay gauge
• Dauphin Island's highest water levels above the average high-tide mark: Frederic 8.0 feet, Ivan 5.93, Katrina 5.16 and Sally 3.09. NOAA Dauphin Island top ten
• NOS minor flooding starts at 5.8 feet on the Dauphin Island gauge, about 1.7 feet above the average high-tide mark. NOAA flood levels

Dauphin Island's 100-year level has a very wide error band, from 5.6 to 17.9 feet above the high-tide average. Treat extreme numbers as rough. NOAA extreme water levels

Sea level and everyday high-tide flooding

Relative sea level is rising slowly along this coast. The Dauphin Island gauge shows 1.7 inches per decade, and the Pensacola gauge 1.07. Gauges from Mississippi to the Panhandle sit between about 1.1 and 1.9 inches per decade. NOAA sea level trends

• That is roughly an inch every five to nine years, so a cap set today gives up a little freeboard over time. NOAA sea level trends
• NOAA projects 9 likely high tide flooding days for Dauphin Island in 2026, against 5 in its 2019 outlook. NOAA high tide outlook

Little Lagoon after Gulf storms

Gulf storms push sand into Little Lagoon Pass. Crews were mechanically dredging the pass in 2015 after heavy weather pushed sand in and eroded the shore. Dredging Wire report

• ALDOT dredges the pass under a court order from 1992. Dredging Today
• In June 2025 a low bid of about $1.5 million was opened for another maintenance dredging job. ^[14]

No lagoon water-level record was found, so this site does not quote lagoon levels. Lagoon-front walls face pass shoaling, wind waves inside the lagoon and slow drainage after rain. See the Little Lagoon Pass guide.

Flood maps and the storm record

The effective flood map for Baldwin County dates to April 19, 2019, and covers every coastal community. FEMA Community Status Book In Gulf Shores a home's lowest floor must sit at least a foot above base flood elevation south of Highway 180. Gulf Shores flood ordinance

• Between 1969 and October 2026, FEMA has listed 39 declarations that cover Baldwin County. OpenFEMA declarations
• Read flood zones and elevation for floor heights.