SPANISH FORT, Ala. — Months after a historic late-April deluge tore up roads and drainage systems across the city, Spanish Fort leaders are moving forward with a slate of repairs aimed at shoring up the damage before the next big storm arrives.
The Spanish Fort City Council voted unanimously during a special-called meeting to declare a state of emergency and award a $90,615 contract to Sunset Contracting Inc., a Mobile-based firm that submitted the lowest bid for the work. The contract covers nine separate road and drainage projects scattered throughout the city, each tied to erosion, sinkholes or structural damage caused by the storm.
The flooding, driven by as much as 13 inches of rain in a single 24-hour stretch, overwhelmed culverts, ditches and stormwater systems across Baldwin County. Spanish Fort had already spent roughly $27,000 in emergency repairs the previous month to fix a blown-out culvert near Caisson Trace along Spanish Main.
City officials say the newly approved projects target locations where the ongoing threat to public safety and private property is greatest. Blakeley River Road saw a drainage flume undermined and four sinkholes form after Spanish Branch overtopped its banks. A sinkhole opened along Caisson Trace, while high-velocity stormwater on Spanish Main caused a joint failure that is threatening both that street and nearby Bull Run.
Other trouble spots include Confederate Drive and Rebel Road, where a bulging, failed section of asphalt could worsen with more rain, and Waites Lane, where floodwater carved deep trenches into an unpaved stretch of roadway. On Butterfly Circle, nearly 150 feet of pavement has partially collapsed into erosion ruts, creating what officials describe as a real hazard for drivers, cyclists and pedestrians in the subdivision.
A damaged concrete flume on Stanton Road threatens to take out a driveway and possibly a home if another major storm hits, while a large concrete flume on Artillery Range Road was undermined in three sections, raising the risk of further erosion, property damage and sediment runoff into Bay Minette Creek. At Spirit Park, a washed-out drainage box beneath the parking lot could collapse during a future heavy rain.
Because the damage stemmed from a federally declared disaster, Spanish Fort expects the Federal Emergency Management Agency to reimburse roughly 75 percent of the repair costs, with the state and city splitting the remainder.
Separately, the city continues to grapple with long-running erosion along a bluff on Patrician Drive, a project that has been tied up in litigation since 2009. The April flooding added more than $1 million to that project’s price tag, pushing its total cost to an estimated $2.5 million.
City officials say the newly funded repairs are intended to head off more serious and costly damage before the region’s next heavy rain event.