Hurricane Ivan Damage Reports
Hurricane Ivan caused a path of destruction through the southern U.S., but especially in Alabama. The eye of Hurricane Ivan made landfall near Gulf Shores, AL on Thursday morning, September 16th. The area between Gulf Shores, AL and Pensacola Beach, FL was hit the hardest. Winds were more than 130 mph and the storm surge was at least 9 feet high. There are some structures along the beach that have been totally destroyed by water and wind.
As predicted, Ivan tracked to the north during the day passing near Selma, AL (just to the west of Montgomery) and then toward the northeast. Winds were reported between 50-100 mph in southwestern Alabama as Ivan moved northward. Trees are down throughout that region and power was lost to thousands of homes. Ivan exited Alabama early Friday morning, September 17th and moved into the southern Appalachian Mountains.
Ivan weakened as it was moving through central Alabama but still caused some damage across our local area in east Alabama and west Georgia. East Alabama saw higher wind gusts and therefore more tree damage and power outages. Western Georgia saw several tornados that were spawned by the outer rain bands of Ivan. The remnants of Hurricane Frances just came through one week earlier on September 7th and also caused trees to fall and power outages. Frances probably cleared a lot of the old and weak trees and limbs from the area so there didn't appear to be as much debris this time in western Georgia. Hurricane Ivan was a much stronger and more powerful storm than Frances and thankfully we were far enough away to be spared the worst damage.
Below is information about local wind gusts, rainfall amounts, and tornado damage. Feel free to email us if you have any new information. If you have any pictures of local storm damage, feel free to send those to us or email them in.
**Click here to see some local damage pictures**
- Brian McClure (bmcclure@wtvm.com), WTVM Morning Meteorologist
Ivan Tornado Damage:
1) Stewart County, GA- A tornado was spotted 5 miles south of Richland. Both law enforcement and the post office personnel saw the tornado.
2) Stewart County, GA- A tornado was also spotted 5 miles west of Richland near the same time as the above mentioned tornado by law enforcement.
3) Dougherty County, GA- A tornado was spotted along Highway 133 south of Albany near the town of Williamsburg by a storm spotter. Highway 133 was closed for a time due to trees down in the road. Minor structural damage from this tornado was reported.
4) Calhoun County, GA- A tornado was spotted in Arlington by the emergency manager. Tree damage was reported in the area.
5) Upson County, GA- A tornado was spotted 5 miles south of the town Lifsey near the Upson/Pike county line. This tornado was spotted by a storm spotter on amateur radio.
6) Calhoun County, GA- A tornado was spotted near Edison by the emergency manager. Tree damage was reported in the area.
Ivan Local Wind Gusts:
| Americus | 42 mph |
| Anniston | 50 mph |
| Athens | 47 mph |
| Atlanta | 53 mph |
| Auburn | ~59mph |
| Birmingham | 61 mph |
| Columbus | 45 mph |
| Eufaula | 40 mph |
| Greenville, GA | 56 mph |
| Lake Harding | 72 mph |
| Montgomery | 72 mph |
| Troy | 39 mph |
Ivan Local Rainfall:
| Americus | 2.43" |
| Anniston, AL | 6.66" |
| Athens | 3.83" |
| Atlanta | 5.02" |
| Auburn, AL | 5.93" |
| Birmingham, AL | 10.10" |
| Buena Vista | 3.90" |
| Cataula | 2.80" |
| Columbus | 2.74" |
| Cuthbert | 4.50" |
| Eufaula, AL | 4.77" |
| Hurtsboro, AL | 3.25" |
| Lanett, AL | 3.00" |
| Lumpkin | 3.00" |
| Montgomery, AL | 5.32" |
| Pine Mountain | 3.78" |
| Plains | 3.02" |
| Smiths Station, AL | 2.90" |
| Talbotton | 5.60" |
| Thomaston | 3.50" |
| Troy, AL | 6.43" |
| Wadley, AL | 6.25" |
* Flash flooding occurred in many areas across the region during the peak of the storm. Lee county and Macon county in Alabama reported flash flooding.
1) Meriwether County, GA- Flash flooding was reported by law enforcement in Woodbury and Manchester.
2) Talbot County, GA- Flash Flooding was reported by law enforcement outside of Talbotton along highway 80.
