Isaias Tears Up Sage Auditorium Roof at Clarke County High; Damage Up to $1 Million

GROVE HILL, Ala. — Hurricane Isaias peeled back the Sage Auditorium roof at Clarke County High School when it roared through Grove Hill on the evening of Friday, Oct. 9, causing damage estimated at $700,000 to $1 million. Authorities say the auditorium roof is likely the most significant damage the storm caused in Clarke County.

The county escaped far worse. Clarke County sat on the western side of Isaias as it moved north from the Florida Panhandle, and while trees and power lines came down across the county, damage to homes and businesses was surprisingly light, according to Clarke County Emergency Management Agency Director Roy Waite.

A forecast jog that never came

Isaias made landfall near Destin, Fla., as a Category 2 hurricane with winds of at least 105 mph before moving north into Alabama. Waite said the early forecast called for the storm to come ashore over northwest Florida and then jog slightly to the west.

“That would have likely put us right in the path,” he said.

Instead, the storm came ashore and continued directly north. “That saved us,” Waite said.

To the east, Monroe, Conecuh and Escambia counties were in Isaias’ direct path, and all three took significant damage. Brewton, the Escambia County seat, has been described by local officials as the hardest-hit community in Alabama, and outages in Monroe and Conecuh counties lingered for days.

Forecasters have said a band of extreme winds known as a sting jet spread north from the western Florida Panhandle into Escambia, Conecuh and Monroe counties as Isaias moved inland. Clarke County, farther west, was not among the counties forecasters placed in that swath.

Waite estimated Isaias’ top winds in Clarke County at up to 60 mph. Rain accompanied the storm but was not torrential.

125 damage reports, mostly trees and lines

Waite said his office received 125 damage reports, most of them for downed trees and power lines. Among the more serious reports:

• Clarke County High School, Grove Hill: The roof of Sage Auditorium was torn up, with damage estimated at $700,000 to $1 million.
• Thomasville: One home had extensive damage from a fallen tree.
• Jackson: Substantial roof damage was documented at the closed AC Fabricating plant building on U.S. Highway 43.

No injuries were reported in the area. At least four deaths in the United States, including two in Alabama, have been attributed to the storm.

Law enforcement officers, volunteer firefighters, Clarke County road crews and others worked to clear the many trees that fell across streets and highways. Some of the falling trees brought down power lines with them, adding to the outages.

Power restored over the weekend

Linemen with Alabama Power and Clarke-Washington Electric Membership Corp. worked through the weekend to restore service.

Clarke-Washington EMC, the member-owned cooperative that serves much of rural Clarke and Washington counties, hit its peak outage count on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 10, with about 9,000 meters out. That was about 45% of the cooperative’s 20,400 meters. By Monday morning, Oct. 12, about 200 customers remained without power.

Alabama Power’s footprint in the county is mostly in the municipalities of Grove Hill, Jackson and Thomasville, with some customers in Whatley. At the height of the outages, 2,386 Alabama Power customers in Clarke County were without service, about 33% of the company’s customers in the county. By Monday, most of that service had been restored.

Conditions improved fast enough in Jackson that the Jackson Police Department canceled the city’s storm curfew on Saturday, Oct. 10, for the rest of the weekend.

The quick turnaround stood in contrast to Escambia, Monroe and Conecuh counties, where Alabama Power and rural cooperatives were still rebuilding broken poles and lines days after the storm.

What the auditorium damage means

School auditoriums do double duty in small Alabama towns, hosting assemblies, band and choral concerts, plays, award ceremonies and community events. An open roof also leaves the interior exposed to rain, so the first priority after a storm like Isaias is usually to cover the damaged area and keep water out while repairs are planned.

The final cost of repairs will depend on what inspectors find once the full extent of the damage is known. Damage to public buildings such as schools is typically covered through property insurance and, when the federal government issues a major disaster declaration that includes Public Assistance for a county, may also qualify for federal reimbursement of eligible costs. Clarke County was not among the counties named in the president’s Oct. 9 emergency declaration, which covered Mobile, Baldwin and Escambia counties and the Poarch Band of Creek Indians.

Gov. Kay Ivey has extended Alabama’s state of emergency, which includes Clarke County among its 40 counties, to give local and state officials more time to document damage and seek federal help.

Clarke County residents eligible for tax relief

Because Clarke County is covered by the governor’s disaster declaration, residents and businesses there are eligible for the federal tax relief announced by the Internal Revenue Service on Wednesday, Oct. 14. Affected taxpayers have until Feb. 4, 2027, to file many federal returns and make payments, including estimated tax payments originally due on or after Oct. 7.

What residents should do now

• Report damage. Contact the Clarke County EMA to report storm damage to homes, businesses or outbuildings so it can be included in local damage assessments.
• Document before cleanup. Photograph and video damage before making repairs, and save receipts for tarps, tree removal and other storm expenses.
• Stay clear of lines. Treat every downed power line as energized and report it to Alabama Power or Clarke-Washington EMC.
• Hire carefully. Use licensed, insured contractors, get written estimates and never pay the full cost up front.
• Use generators safely. Run them outdoors only, away from doors, windows and vents.