Gulf Shores Hurricane Preparedness Expo Returns April 26 With One-Stop Storm Readiness Resources

Gulf Shores residents can get a head start on hurricane season at the city’s annual Hurricane Preparedness Expo, set for Wednesday, April 26 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Erie H. Meyer Civic Center, 1930 West 2nd Street.

The free expo gathers federal, state and local agencies under one roof alongside businesses that specialize in storm products and services, giving families a single stop to learn what resources exist before, during and after a storm.

“A vital part of being prepared is understanding what resources are available,” said Brandan Franklin, the city’s emergency management coordinator. “This event is set up to provide a one-stop-shop to learn helpful tips and be introduced to the many products and services available to help protect families and their property.”

The timing is deliberate. The Atlantic hurricane season opens June 1, and a coastal city whose economy and population swell with the summer means officials want families stocked, insured and decided about evacuation plans before the first tropical system has a name. An afternoon at the expo can cover what a week of scattered research might: generators, shutters, insurance questions, evacuation routes and the agencies that respond when a storm clears.

Vendors and presenters

Expected exhibitors include Baldwin EMC, Riviera Utilities, Gulf Shores Utilities, Folkers Windows, Island Enclosures, Paris Ace Hardware, Disaster Smart, the Alabama Small Business Development Center, the American Red Cross and CrowderGulf, among others.

The lineup covers the full arc of a storm, from the utilities that keep power and water flowing to the contractors and retailers who repair what the wind breaks. Baldwin EMC, the member-owned cooperative serving thousands of customers across lower Baldwin County, can walk residents through outage preparation and restoration. Riviera Utilities and Gulf Shores Utilities answer questions about the water, gas and electric systems that serve the city, and companies such as Folkers Windows and Island Enclosures show the shutters, impact glass and enclosure products that decide how much storm a house takes.

The service side of the aisle is just as important. The American Red Cross staffs shelters and provides disaster relief across the region, CrowderGulf is among the debris-removal contractors that clear the roads after landfall, and the Small Business Development Center offers guidance for the business owners whose shops and restaurants anchor the city’s tourist economy. Residents can compare products, collect literature and ask detailed questions without buying a ticket or sitting through a hard sell.

Local television meteorologists John Nodar and Ed Bloodsworth of the Alert Team will give a special presentation at noon.

The forecasters who track Gulf systems for local viewers through every season will talk through what residents should watch for, how warnings unfold and how to interpret the forecast cone that dominates coverage every time a storm spins toward the coast. For newcomers who have never ridden out a hurricane and seasonal residents who arrive after the last one, that hour with the metrologists is often the expo’s most valuable draw.

Hurricane decals available on site

City departments will be on hand to answer questions, and residents who still need a current 2023-2024 hurricane decal can purchase one at the event.

Buyers must bring proof of residency or property ownership, such as a deed, lease or utility bill showing the property address, along with a driver’s license. Decals cost $5 each, with a limit of three per resident.

The decals matter after the storm, not before. Gulf Shores, like other Baldwin County beach communities, uses a re-entry system following a hurricane or other evacuation, and the current-year decal is the credential that lets residents and property owners back across police lines once the roads are safe but the city is still closed to the general public. Without one, returning homeowners can face long waits at checkpoints while officers verify property records one driver at a time. The two-year decal cycle, the residency documents and the per-resident limit all exist to keep the program secure against the counterfeit decals and looting concerns that followed past storms.

Why Gulf Shores prepares early

The city’s caution is earned. Gulf Shores sits on the barrier island at the southern tip of Alabama, directly in the path of the Gulf’s strongest landfalling systems. The city has rebuilt more than once in living memory: Hurricane Frederic in 1979 leveled much of the coastline, Hurricane Ivan in 2004 tore through the island with catastrophic wind and surge, and Hurricane Sally in 2020 flooded neighborhoods and knocked out infrastructure across Baldwin County with a slow-moving landfall east of the city. Each storm reshaped building codes, evacuation planning and the culture of preparation the expo reflects.

That history shapes the practical advice city officials repeat every spring. Residents are urged to decide before June whether they will evacuate and where, since the peninsula funnels traffic onto a limited set of routes when an evacuation order comes. A family kit should include water, food, medications, flashlights, batteries, fuel, cash and documents in waterproof storage, with enough supplies to last several days after landfall while crews restore power and clear roads. Flood insurance, which requires a separate policy from standard homeowners coverage and carries a waiting period, is best purchased months before a storm rather than days.

The city’s emergency management office works year-round on the systems behind that advice. Alert notifications, evacuation zone maps, shelter arrangements with county and state partners and mutual aid agreements with utilities and contractors are all maintained in advance, so that the city is not negotiating its first logistics contracts while a storm is already in the Gulf. The expo is the public-facing piece of that work, an afternoon when residents can see the same planning the city performs internally and connect it to their own households.

Newcomers have become a growing share of the audience. Coastal Alabama’s population has climbed steadily, and every year brings families who moved to Gulf Shores from places where hurricanes are a news story rather than a lived experience. For them, the expo serves as an orientation: how re-entry decals work, which roads flood first, why the water and sewer system may be shut down after a major landfall, and what a voluntary versus mandatory evacuation order actually means for their street.

What the agencies offer

The expo’s agency booths give residents a direct line to the people who will manage a disaster. Emergency management staff explain alert systems and evacuation zones, health and human services agencies describe special-needs registries for residents who would need transportation or medical support in an evacuation, and public safety departments preview how re-entry and curfews work in the first days after landfall.

For property owners, the conversations run toward mitigation. Elevating structures, reinforcing roofs, installing impact windows and trimming trees before June all reduce both storm damage and insurance premiums, and several of the expo’s commercial exhibitors specialize in exactly that work. Baldwin County’s building standards have tightened repeatedly since Ivan, and the homes that performed best in Sally were, by and large, the ones that had invested in code-plus construction and opening protection.

Planning details

The expo runs 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Erie H. Meyer Civic Center, the city’s principal public meeting space on West 2nd Street, and admission is free. No registration is required, and residents can come and go throughout the four hours, which makes the event workable for shift workers, families with young children and retirees alike. Free admission is deliberate: emergency officials want every household in the room, not just the ones who can afford a ticket or a membership event.

The exhibitor floor is organized so that a visitor can make a full circuit in under an hour, collecting the utility contacts, product information and agency literature that apply to their situation. Staff recommend bringing a list of questions, whether about a specific insurance gap, a generator hookup, a roof age or a flood zone, because the specialists on hand can answer in minutes what might otherwise take weeks of phone calls.

Residents with questions before or after the event can contact emergency management coordinator Brandan Franklin at 251-968-1149.

City officials treat the April event as the opening event of hurricane season on the island, the point at which households are expected to move from intention to action. By the time the first June storm forms in the Caribbean or the Gulf, the families who spent an afternoon at the civic center will have their decals on the windshield, their kits on the shelf and their plans already made, which is precisely the outcome Franklin and the city’s emergency staff set out to produce.

Those who miss the expo will still find the information through city channels, but the assembled expertise of the exhibitor floor is difficult to replicate, and officials would rather answer the questions in April than the calls in September.