Mobile and Baldwin counties: two Gulf Shores landfalls and a real-world test of FORTIFIED

Ivan, 2004

Ivan made landfall as a 105 kt, category 3 hurricane just west of Gulf Shores at about 0650 UTC on September 16, 2004, then turned north-northeast across eastern Mobile Bay. The readings NHC lists from Baldwin County are unofficial but striking: a storm chaser near Gulf Shores measured 77 kt sustained with a 99 kt gust, and the sailboat Odalisque, anchored in Wolf Bay north of Orange Beach, recorded a 126 kt gust. NHC's report lists extensive damage from high surf and wind at Orange Beach. FEMA's DR-1549 covered Baldwin and Mobile counties.

Katrina, 2005, on the Alabama side

Katrina's center came ashore far to the west, yet NHC documents a storm surge of 10 to 15 ft along coastal Mobile County, including Dauphin Island, and 8 to 12 ft along the northern and western shores of Mobile Bay. An oil rig under construction on the Mobile River broke loose, floated about 1.5 miles north and struck the Cochrane Bridge. The major disaster declaration was DR-1605.

Sally, 2020

Sally's northern eyewall began moving onshore in Baldwin County between 0500 and 0600 UTC on September 16, 2020 and battered the coast for about three hours, with some of the most violent gusts near mesovortices along the inner edge of the eyewall. The center finally made landfall at Gulf Shores around 0945 UTC with 95 kt winds; a storm chaser in Gulf Shores read 965 mb, and a station near Foley 966.4 mb.

NHC's damage summary describes widespread damage to trees, power lines and buildings across Mobile and Baldwin counties: a few older homes were destroyed, and many structures suffered significant roof, siding and fence damage. The worst was along the back bays east of Gulf Shores toward Perdido Bay, a section of the Gulf State Park Pier was lost, and almost all of Baldwin County lost power. Orange Beach recorded 29.99 inches of rain, the storm's highest total. FEMA's DR-4563 covered both counties.

Sally as a test of a standard

The Alabama Department of Insurance commissioned the University of Alabama's Center for Risk and Insurance Research to compare claims after Sally. The data came from more than 40,000 insured properties in coastal Alabama south of Interstate 10: 25,093 conventional homes, 7,685 built to supplemental codes and 7,417 FORTIFIED homes, of which 1,705 were FORTIFIED Roof and 5,712 FORTIFIED Gold.

The results, as the Department reports them:

• FORTIFIED cut loss frequency by at least 55 percent and as much as 74 percent, and claim severity fell by 15 to 40 percent.
• The loss ratio dropped by 51 to 72 percent, and deductibles paid by policyholders fell by more than 60 percent.
• FORTIFIED homes also beat homes built to municipal codes with identical criteria but without FORTIFIED's documentation and evaluation.
• Claims from falling trees were left out, because FORTIFIED is not designed to protect against them.

For a site that compares standards, the third finding is the key one: the same technical criteria performed better when they were independently documented and verified. Our standards comparison sets FORTIFIED alongside the codes.

Strengthen Alabama Homes

The Department's grant program, Strengthen Alabama Homes, funds wind mitigation on existing, owner-occupied single-family homes in eligible counties; rentals, townhomes, condominiums and mobile homes are excluded, and the home cannot be listed for sale. Grants pay 100 percent of the mitigation cost up to $10,000, the work must reach the FORTIFIED Roof standard, and the homeowner pays the FORTIFIED evaluator's fee. After the evaluation, you choose three program-qualified contractors to bid, and payment goes to the contractor once IBHS issues the designation.

The program says it opened grants to Jefferson, Tuscaloosa and Escambia counties on November 4, 2025, the first time it had offered them outside Mobile and Baldwin counties since it began in 2015. The Department credits the program with 8,660 retrofitted homes.

Hail and tornadoes

NOAA's Storm Events Database records, for 2016 through 2025, 36 hail events of 1 inch or larger in Baldwin County, 13 of them 1.75 inches or larger and 6 at least 2 inches, plus 25 tornadoes. Mobile County logged 26 such hail events and 39 tornadoes. The largest recent stones fell on April 10, 2021 in Orange Beach, where reports reached 4 inches, 3 inches and 2.75 inches.

Roofers are listed on the National Roofing Directory in Mobile, Daphne and Fairhope; listings for the Mobile and Baldwin cities this site covers follow:

Frequently asked questions

Where did Ivan and Sally make landfall?

Ivan came ashore just west of Gulf Shores in 2004 at 105 kt, and Sally made landfall at Gulf Shores in 2020 at 95 kt.

How many homes were in Alabama's Sally study?

More than 40,000 insured coastal properties, including 7,417 FORTIFIED homes. Most of the FORTIFIED homes in the sample, 5,712 of them, were built to the Gold level.

Who can apply for a Strengthen Alabama Homes grant?

Residents of the program's eligible counties who own and live in an existing single-family home, according to Strengthen Alabama Homes. The site posts a grant award schedule by county.

Where can I check Alabama's roofing rules?

The National Roofing Directory's Alabama roofing licensing page summarizes them, and its Alabama storm center tracks active storms.