Hurricane Isaias was closing in on the northern Gulf Coast Thursday when police on Dauphin Island, Alabama, made contact with a local man who was on a boat off the island’s east end. According to officials, the boater understood the dangers of staying aboard and chose to do it anyway. Isaias was forecast to make landfall near Pensacola, about 95 miles from Dauphin Island, around 9:30 p.m.
The numbers behind that decision are worth repeating. Maximum sustained winds reached 120 mph Thursday evening before easing to roughly 110 mph, and Dauphin Island was facing a storm surge of 4 to 6 feet. Southern Alabama expected 4 to 8 inches of rain. For anyone who has spent time on Gulf Coast water, those figures carry real weight.
The story raises a question coastal communities wrestle with every hurricane season: how far should authorities go when someone knowingly takes on a storm risk? Police said the boater was aware of the danger. For now, there is no word of an emergency on the water, only a reminder of how quickly a personal decision can become a public one.
What would you do in his position? Would you stay with your boat, or would you be on the road inland? Let us know in the comments.
