Steele, Alabama

The Flood Warning continues for
the Coosa River at Weiss Dam.
* From Saturday evening until further notice... or until the warning
is cancelled.
* At 9 am Wednesday the stage was 562.5 feet.
* Flood stage is 567 feet.
* Minor flooding is forecast.
* Forecast... rise above flood stage by Saturday evening and continue
to rise to near 568.3 feet by Monday morning. Additional rises are
possible thereafter.
* Impact... at 567 feet... flooding of Lakeside property occurs.
Some docks and boathouses become inundated.

1129 am CST Wed Nov 11 2009

The Flood Warning continues for
the Coosa River near Logan Martin dam.
* From late tonight to Saturday evening... or until the warning is
cancelled.
* At 9:00 am Wednesday the stage was 464.3 feet.
* Flood stage is 467 feet.
* Minor flooding is forecast.
* Forecast... rise above flood stage by Thursday morning and continue
to rise near 468.3 feet by Friday morning.
* Impact... at 467 feet... flooding of some boathouses and docks
around the lake occurs.

... Tropical system Ida summary for central Alabama...

The tropical depression first formed on Wednesday, November 4th,
off the coast of Nicaragua. Ida made landfall in Nicaragua and
then moved back over the open water and re-intensified. Ida first
reached hurricane intensity Saturday night in the southern Gulf of
Mexico with winds of 75 mph which is a category 1 hurricane on the
Saffir-Simpson scale. By 6 PM on Sunday, November 8th, Ida reached
category 2 status with 105 mph sustained winds. The hurricane held
this status until 3 am Monday, November 9th, when it finally
encountered cooler waters and stronger wind shear over the northern
Gulf of Mexico. Ida slowly continued to weaken through the day on
Monday before finally making landfall on Dauphin Island,
Alabama, around 540 am Tuesday, November 10th as a Tropical Storm.
Ida then reemerged over Mobile Bay and maintained its intensity until
making another landfall on the Mainland Alabama coast near Weeks
Bay around 730 am. At both Alabama landfalls, Tropical Storm Ida had
sustained winds of 45 to 50 mph.

For central Alabama, the effects of Ida were felt as early as Monday
afternoon in Pike, Barbour and Montgomery counties, as light rain
began falling around 2 PM. These rains continued to stretch
northward throughout the day on Monday and into the day on Tuesday.
The heavier rains were not seen until after dark Monday evening and
along with the heavier rains came the winds. Sustained winds
were generally between 15 and 20 mph. Maximum wind gusts generally
were around 35 mph. However, a few locations received wind
gusts around 50 mph. The big story with Ida was the rain. Rainfall
totals were generally between 3 and 4 inches with some isolated
higher totals. Maximum rainfall totals were in southern Lee and
north and west parts of Russell County where just over 9 inches
was measured. Areas northwest of Interstate 59 and west of Interstate
65 received much less rainfall, generally 2 inches or less.

Several trees were blown across central Alabama due to the wind
gusts. At this time, the following counties have reported tree
damage; Macon, Chambers, Randolph, Clay, Cherokee, Etowah, Sumter,
Talladega, Jefferson, Greene, Bibb, Dallas, Perry, Elmore, Hale,
Shelby and Autauga. Saturated soil likely played a significant role.

As early as 7 am on Tuesday, there were numerous reports around
central Alabama of roads closed due to flooding. At this time, the
following counties have reported flooding; Bibb, Perry,
Tuscaloosa, Lee, Russell, Chambers, Randolph, Etowah, Talladega,
Shelby, Lowndes and Calhoun.

Several residences were evacuated from their Mobile homes in The
Mount willing area (lowndes co). The flooding occurred due to a pond
that overflowed. Several residences were evacuated in Hurtsboro
(russell co) due to water from the roadway entering their homes.

Here are some storm total rainfall amounts and maximum wind gusts for
selected locations in central alabama:


Location: estimated storm total rainfall (inches):

11 S Opelika 9.83
Grantley 6.79
3 NNW Phenix City 6.47
8.6 E Clanton 6.30
9.2 S Sylacauga 6.17
Demopolis 6.05
Shelby 6.00
2.8 SSE Bon Air 5.86
3.4 NW Deatsville 5.78
2 ESE Moody 5.54
Crestline Heights 5.50
3.6 SSE Pell City 5.49
Lake Purdy 5.46
0.5 W Alexander City 5.41
1.6 SSE Talladega 5.38
15.2 NE Attalla 5.30
1.5 se Ramer 5.13
1.9 SSW Auburn 5.13
Homewood 5.13
Inverness 5.11
6.2 SSW Dadeville 5.06
Oxford 5.00
ingramtown 5.00
Troy 4.59
Calera 4.55
Birmingham 4.32
Anniston 3.71
Tuscaloosa 3.19
Montgomery 3.17


Location: estimated maximum wind gusts (mph):

Cedar Bluff (cherokee co) 52
Livingston (sumter co) 42
Maxwell AFB (montgomery co) 40
Montgomery (montgomery co) 39
Tuscaloosa (tuscaloosa co) 37
Alexander City (tallapoosa co) 37
Anniston (calhoun co) 36
Birmingham (jefferson co) 35
Calera (shelby co) 35
Demopolis (marengo co) 35
Troy (pike co) 33
Auburn (lee co) 31


Record reports:

Anniston reported a record rainfall of 3.51 inches for the 10th of
November. The previous record of 1.98 inches was set in 1966.

Birmingham reported a record rainfall of 4.01 inches for the 10th
of November. The previous record of 1.67 inches was set in 1919.

Montgomery reported a record rainfall of 2.33 inches for the 10th of
November. The previous record of 1.61 inches was set in 1898.

Tuscaloosa reported a record rainfall of 2.89 inches for the 10th of
November. The previous record of 1.65 inches was set in 2002.

Central Alabama was spared in large part by the fact that we had
almost a full week of dry conditions prior to Ida making landfall.
With the rainfall being spread over a 36-hour period... it allowed
for proper runoff and alleviated any larger flooding problems we
could have experienced. Only minor river flooding was reported.