Robin's Blog for Dauphin Island

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — Battered by last year's oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico and still trying to breathe life back into its fragile economy, tiny Dauphin Island off the Alabama coast needs a hurricane-free season.

"We're looking at this summer as a comeback summer," said Mayor Jeff Collier. A hurricane strike this year could be "catastrophic" to recovery efforts in his town and others along the coast, said Collier.

"This is a critical time for all of coastal Alabama — really the entire Gulf Coast," he said.

With hurricane season set to start Wednesday, Collier and other officials in Alabama said they are prepared if a tropical system takes aim at their communities, but they hope Mother Nature gives them a break this time around.

Crowds are returning to the coast, pumping badly needed cash — and hope — into a local economy that crashed following the oil spill.

"If the weather stays nice, it's going to be a great summer," said Tony Kennon, mayor of Orange Beach in Baldwin County.

Government forecasters announced earlier this month that they expect three to six major hurricanes during an above-average Atlantic storm season, which will end Nov. 30.

As many as 18 named tropical storms may develop this hurricane season, according to the National Ocean and Atmospheric Administration. Six to 10 of those storms could strengthen into hurricanes with winds of at least 74 mph, the agency said. Three to six could become major hurricanes, with maximum winds of 111 mph and up.

Last year's hurricane season was one of the busiest on record with 19 named storms, including 12 hurricanes. However, no major hurricane has made a U.S. landfall in five years.

Ronnie Adair, director of the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency, said officials try to get out as much information as possible before June 1, encouraging people to prepare early. Residents should have disaster kits and make arrangements for items such as medications, gasoline and batteries.

One wild card remains: Oil and oil-contaminated debris that could come ashore during a hurricane. Millions of gallons of oil spewed into the Gulf of Mexico last year during the Deepwater Horizon spill. Scientists aren't sure exactly how much of it remains deep in the water or buried under the sand, even after a portion of the crude was skimmed by ships, broken apart by chemicals or eaten by oil-munching microbes.

State and local officials said they dealt with the scenario of oil and a hurricane during the spill and continue to work on their plans. Yet Collier and Kennon said questions remain, including procedures for removing oil-coated debris.

"We don't quite have a handle on it yet," Collier said.

The state has been working with local and federal officials on all aspects of hurricane season preparations, said Yasamie August, spokeswoman for the Alabama Department of Emergency Management.

August said officials are confident there will be enough supplies to react to any potential hurricane strike, even with a recent series of disasters — from tornadoes in north Alabama and other states to historic Mississippi River flooding. She said the tornado response actually has given state officials a chance to also talk more with personnel from the Federal Emergency Management Agency about hurricane-related issues.

"We haven't forgotten about hurricane preparedness," August said.