While Hurricane Isaias ended up making landfall to the east in Florida, Foley officials said the storm showed that city workers and facilities were prepared to deal with the effects of a storm.
Hurricane Isaias came ashore with winds of 105 miles per hour near Destin, Fla. at about 8:30 p.m. Friday.
The Foley City Council held a special meeting following the storm to pass a debris-collection resolution and discuss the effects of the storm.
Some downed trees, damaged signs and power outages were reported around Foley, but the area avoided the extensive damage that occurred when Hurricane Sally hit the Alabama Gulf Coast in 2020.
Mayor Ralph Hellmich said city workers did a good job being ready for a storm.
“The lessons we learned from Sally were applied. I want to compliment our team,” Hellmich said. “Their cooperation and communication was extraordinary and they were well positioned.”
While Foley received less than 1 inch of rain during Isaias, crews worked before the storm to clean drainage ditches and prepare for the potential impact of heavy rains.
“They had already done work on the ditches,” Hellmich said. “Our folks went out and were really ahead of this one, and I think we were much better prepared.”
All streets were passable in Foley by Saturday morning. No flooding was reported on city streets during the storm.
Contractors and city crews were at work as the storm passed Friday night and early Saturday morning, clearing downed trees from road rights of way and reopening streets.
Foley Fire Department crews were called in to work double shifts from Friday afternoon through Saturday morning.
Chief Joey Darby said Foley fire crews responded to 29 storm-related calls from 3:30 p.m. to midnight. Most of the incidents were fallen trees or power lines. The department also responded to reports of small fires caused by trees hitting power lines in the high winds.
Falling trees damaged two mobile homes, but no injuries were reported.
No firefighters were injured and no equipment was damaged during the storm.
The Foley Police Department responded to 48 calls for service related to the storm, with 19 calls involving road hazards.
In preparation for the impact of Hurricane Isaias, Foley distributed approximately 20,000 sandbags to residents seeking to protect their property from flooding, according to preliminary estimates.
Mike Chavers, Foley street maintenance superintendent, said crews were collecting debris Monday morning with workers being pulled from other divisions to assist with removing limbs and other material left by the storm.
Public Works crews will collect roadside debris Monday through Friday, from 6 a.m. to 4 p.m. Foley’s regular 6-cubic-yard limit on residential yard debris has been temporarily lifted until further notice.
Crews will work throughout the city to collect as much debris as possible. Not every street will be serviced every day, but the goal is to complete the initial collection of storm debris within two weeks following the storm.
Residents placing debris on the side of the road for collection should sort the material. Vegetative debris, construction debris, hazardous materials and appliances should be placed in separate piles.
The lifting of the 6-cubic-yard limit is only for storm debris. Foley crews will check to ensure that other items, such as wastes from property clearing are not left for storm collection.
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