Dauphin Island Wraps Up Ida Cleanup and Rolls Out the Welcome Mat for Snowbirds

Dauphin Island is closing out a comparatively calm hurricane year and turning its attention to winter visitors, with cleanup from Hurricane Ida nearly complete and snowbirds arriving on schedule.

Mayor Jeff Collier said this season was far easier on the barrier island than 2020, when Hurricanes Sally and Zeta battered the coast. The island saw only moderate damage when Ida passed through the Gulf in late August, and crews are finishing the last of the recovery work on the west end of town.

“We did have some effects from Ida this year, which we are still doing some cleanup on the west end. We still have some sand we’re moving in that case,” Collier said. “But people coming here, they’ll see Dauphin Island as how they remember it, and that’s a good thing.”

The mild hurricane season has been matched by an unusually warm start to winter, and town officials say the combination is drawing more visitors than usual for December.

“The continued warmth obviously makes beaches more attractive. We’re also getting our snowbird crowds as we usually do,” Collier said, adding that the island is glad to host the seasonal residents who return to the Alabama coast each winter.

With the Atlantic hurricane season officially over, Dauphin Island heads into the new year with its beaches open and its usual rhythm of winter tourism back in full swing.

A Look Back at the Storms

Hurricane Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon, Louisiana, on Aug. 29, 2021, as a Category 4 storm. The year before, Dauphin Island was affected by Hurricane Sally, which came ashore near Gulf Shores in September 2020, and Hurricane Zeta, which made landfall in Louisiana in late October 2020.

The Atlantic hurricane season officially runs from June 1 through Nov. 30.