MOBILE, Ala. — Alabama Power said Sunday that it was preparing for Tropical Storm Sally and urged south Alabama residents to do the same, as the storm was expected to strengthen and move toward the Gulf Coast.
In a news release issued September 13, 2020, the utility said it was staging crews and equipment and monitoring the storm’s track, while encouraging customers to review their own disaster plans and make sure they had supplies on hand.
A Busy Hurricane Season
The preparations came during an already active hurricane season for the utility. Tropical Storm Cristobal had dumped heavy rain on the Mobile area in June, and more than 350 Alabama Power employees had just returned from Louisiana and Texas, where they helped restore electrical service after Hurricane Laura made landfall in late August.
Sally would go on to strengthen into a Category 2 hurricane before making landfall near Gulf Shores on September 16, knocking out power to tens of thousands of customers across Mobile and Baldwin counties and causing widespread wind and flood damage.
What Alabama Power Told Customers
The utility reminded residents to have a personal disaster plan, keep emergency supplies available and stay informed about the storm’s progress. Alabama Power also encouraged customers to report outages through its online tools once the storm passed and to stay away from downed power lines.