Foley Hosts First Hurricane Preparedness Expo, Putting Emergency Experts Under One Roof

Every household along the Alabama Gulf Coast intends to have a hurricane plan. Considerably fewer households actually have one written down, with a route chosen, a pet arrangement settled and an insurance policy that has been read within the last five years. The gap between intention and preparation is where storms do their damage.

The City of Foley is attempting to close that gap with its first-ever Hurricane Preparedness Expo, a free public event that gathers emergency response agencies, city departments and local businesses in a single room so residents can accomplish in one morning what would otherwise take weeks of phone calls.

Event Details

• Date: Tuesday, July 14, 2026
• Time: 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
• Location: Foley Civic Center, 407 E. Laurel Ave., Foley
• Cost: Free and open to all community members

The five-hour window is deliberately wide, allowing residents to drop in around work schedules rather than committing to a fixed presentation time.

The Timing Is Not Accidental

Mid-July sits at a specific point in the Atlantic hurricane season. The season formally opens June 1, but activity in the Gulf of Mexico historically accelerates from August through October. A July expo lands in the window when preparation is still genuinely possible, before the National Hurricane Center is naming storms in the eastern Gulf and before the plywood aisle at every hardware store in Baldwin County is empty.

Anyone who lived through Hurricane Sally in 2020 understands the difference those weeks make. Preparation done in a calm July is thorough. Preparation done in a 48-hour panic is not.

What the City Says It Is Trying to Accomplish

Thurston Bullock, public safety director for the city of Foley, framed the expo in terms of removing friction from a process most residents find intimidating.

“Preparedness is one of the most effective tools we have when it comes to protecting lives and property,” Bullock said. “The Hurricane Preparedness Expo gives residents the opportunity to connect directly with trusted local experts, learn what resources are available, and make a plan before a storm is approaching.”

He added that the intent is for people to leave in a different state of mind than they arrived in. “We want everyone to leave better prepared and more confident heading into hurricane season,” he said.

Aimed at Newcomers and Longtime Residents Alike

The expo is explicitly designed for two very different audiences. The first is the substantial population of new arrivals. Baldwin County has been among the fastest-growing counties in Alabama, and Foley has absorbed a significant share of that growth. Many of those new residents have relocated from places where a hurricane is a thing you watch on television, not a thing you evacuate from. They frequently do not know what a storm surge zone is, whether their home is in one, or what their flood insurance actually covers.

The second audience is longtime residents who have grown complacent, or whose plans were made under different circumstances. A plan drawn up when the children were young and there was no elderly parent in the house is no longer the right plan. An evacuation route chosen a decade ago may no longer reflect current road capacity or construction.

What to Bring and What to Ask

Residents attending will get the most value by arriving with specific questions rather than general anxiety. Worth asking:

• Is my address in an evacuation zone, and which one?
• What does my homeowners policy actually exclude? Wind and flood are frequently separate coverages, and many people discover the distinction only after a claim is denied.
• Where do I go with pets? Not every shelter accepts them.
• How will the city notify me? Emergency alert systems require registration in many jurisdictions.
• What is the plan for medically dependent household members who require power for equipment?

For residents building a kit, Alabama also offers an annual severe weather preparedness sales tax holiday on the last full weekend of February, when qualifying supplies such as batteries, flashlights, weather radios and tarps priced at $60 or less, and portable generators priced at $1,000 or less, can be bought free of state sales tax. Participating cities and counties can waive their local sales taxes as well.

Part of a Broader Resilience Effort

City officials describe the expo as one component of a wider push to build a more resilient Foley. Bringing local resources and expertise together under a single roof lowers the barrier for residents who would otherwise never track down the individual agencies on their own.

For more information, residents may contact Emergency Management Coordinator Krystal Bodiford at [email protected] or by phone at 251-437-9668.