Alabama Power restores thousands of customers after Tropical Storm Gordon
Alabama Power works to restore service to Dauphin Island on Wednesday, Sept. 5, after Tropical Storm Gordon. (Mike Kittrell / Alabama NewsCenter)
Tropical Storm Gordon packed a punch to the Gulf Coast Tuesday evening, delivering 74 mph winds to Dauphin Island and surrounding areas.
While the storm stopped just short of reaching hurricane status, at its height, customer outages peaked at 25,000 overnight. As of 1 p.m. Wednesday, there were about 5,900 customer outages, said Alabama Power Storm Center Co-director Bobby Hawthorne.
Alabama Power evaluators are patrolling the power lines for damage in and around the Mobile area, and line crews are working hard to restore power to customers. Additional support from the central part of the state was mobilized at dawn, with crews traveling to the Mobile area to assist in restoration efforts this morning. Alabama Power has a staging area at the Mobile Greyhound Park in Theodore, where food is being served and trucks refueled.
“The majority of the outages are centered around Dauphin Island, Bayou la Batre and surrounding areas,” Hawthorne said. “Our crews are in Mobile, and we have about 1,000 people involved in storm restoration efforts.” The crews include about 400 contractors, including evaluators.
While Alabama residents are still dealing with winds and rain, the storm is weakening rapidly, according to the National Weather Service. The majority of rainfall is in west Alabama.
“It looks as though the storm is moving northwest out of Alabama,” Hawthorne said.
