Disaster Archive
Hurricanes 2005
Damage and Response Reports – Gulf Coast
January 7 Decatur Daily article: Battleship Park to open after Katrina.
MOBILE (AP) – After being closed more than four months by major wind damage from Hurricane Katrina, Battleship Memorial Park reopens at 9 a.m. Monday with a ceremony featuring the "rechristening" of the USS Alabama. To read more, click here.
October 2 Mobile Register article: Museum of Mobile still in limbo: Damage review to begin Oct. 9.
Director George Ewert said the Museum of Mobile dodged a big bullet when the storm surge from Hurricane Katrina flooded Water, Government and Royal streets Aug. 29. "When you think of having three feet of water outside this building ...," said Ewert, who saw images of downtown Mobile on cable news networks CNN and MSNBC while he was in California visiting his daughter. TV reports showed the heads of parking meters just visible above the murky water. "I thought we had three feet of water inside the museum," Ewert said, "which would have been a far worse catastrophe—but with luck, we didn't have that. The damage was far less than we feared." But it was enough, as Ewert and his staff learned in the weeks after the Aug. 29 hurricane. To read more, click here.
September 7, via phone to Heritage Preservation:
The staff from the National African-American Archives and Museum (2004 CAP Awardee) in Mobile, Alabama, report losing power for two days as a result of Hurricane Katrina.
September 7, via e-mail from Rebecca Mitchell, Alabama State Librarian:
I just talked to the library director of the Mobile Public Library this morning. He did not lose any buildings but several received roof damage. Their staff has spent the last week moving materials, equipment and furniture to safer sites many times in flooded areas. Mr. Watts has resumed services through four of his library branches and intends to keep his bookmobile off the road until at least next week due to road conditions. His estimates of cost for repairs are in the neighborhood of $350,000. Do not know how much will be covered by insurance. We lost one library at Bayou La Bayre completely. It served a rural fishing community. They have no library service at this time. The Director at Mobile and I will be helping assess their needs and how to rebuild in the next few weeks. The main issue with our state is restoration of Internet connections. Libraries do not seem to be a priority in restoring Internet connections. This is unfortunate since libraries are one of the first places individuals as well as the FEMA and Red Cross go to get connections when normal communications are down. This is just a brief update on Alabama, we seem to be handling things for now. We feel fortunate seeing the damage that Mississippi and Louisiana have received. Personally, I would hope that there is a national effort of libraries to develop a national disaster plan for the future. All of us have so much too offer if only we knew what to do. Thank you for your concern for Alabama and its citizens and libraries, but for right now, we are still in an assessing mode.
August 31, excerpt from a posting on Museum-L:
Battleship Memorial Park on the Causeway sustained extensive damage Monday from the winds of Hurricane Katrina, which left the park's aircraft pavilion apparently battered into a total loss and its centerpiece USS Alabama listing, officials said.
The damage appears to be "between $1.5 and $2 million," said Bill Tunnell, the park's executive director, and he noted that this was just a preliminary estimate and was "conservative." To read more, cick here.
August 31, excerpt from a posting on Museum-L:
This morning I saw a brief report with pics on the USS Alabama. The pics show it is listing to one side and the report stated the ship has taken on water.