Marine Tropical Storm — Perdido Bay Area, Gulf of Mexico

2020-10-28 · Perdido Bay Area, Gulf of Mexico

Wider weather episode

Hurricane Zeta made landfall in southeast Louisiana during the late afternoon hours of Wednesday, October 28th as a strong category 2 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 110 mph. Zeta quickly raced northeast and moved across inland southeast Mississippi and inland southwest Alabama during the evening hours. Shortly after midnight, Thursday, October 29th, Zeta weakened to a tropical storm while moving across central Alabama. Since Zeta was moving at a rapid 25-30 mph across the area, it brought frequent hurricane force wind gusts and extensive wind damage to inland southeast Mississippi and inland southwest Alabama. Hurricane force gusts extended as far east as coastal Alabama, which contributed to a significant storm surge that impacted portions of Mobile and Baldwin Counties. Sustained minimal tropical storm force winds extended as far east as portions of the western Florida Panhandle.

Widespread tree and power line damage was reported across inland southeast Mississippi into inland southwest Alabama as these areas experienced sustained moderate to strong tropical storm force winds and frequent hurricane force wind gusts. Despite a lack of observations, peak gusts of 80 to 100 mph very likely occurred. In fact, the Mobile Regional Airport measured the highest wind gust in the local area of 91 mph. A station in Grove Hill measured a peak gust of 80 mph. Several counties in this area experienced near or 100% power outages. Many homes also suffered minor roof damage, with numerous homes suffering moderate to major damage, many of which were the result of trees falling onto homes.

The highest storm surge occurred in Mobile Bay, along the immediate shores of Baldwin County, as well as southern Mobile County along the Mississippi Sound, as well as Dauphin Island. Peak storm surge inundation was surveyed to be 7 to 9 feet across parts of Bayou La Batre and Coden, as well as the Baldwin County side of Mobile Bay from the Mobile Bay Causeway to south of Point Clear. A few isolated areas approached 10 feet, but these heights could have been contributed to by wave action.

Flooding reports were isolated as the fast movement of the storm precluded excessive rainfall amounts. Rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches were reported along and just to the right of the center across inland southeast Mississippi into inland southwest Alabama.

At the time of publication, there was not enough data available to calculate an estimate to storm total monetary damages.

Source: NOAA Storm Events Database, event_id 924465. Narrative written by the NWS forecast office that issued the report.