00:00Storm chaser Aaron Rigsby joining us live from Dauphin Island, Alabama, with a closer look at
00:05the impacts there. So Aaron, how's it going? How are the waves and any semblance of storm surge
00:11earlier today? How are we doing out there? Yeah, good evening, Jeff. We're actually still dealing
00:16with a lot of gusty winds out here. Just a moment ago before I came on, my tripod was almost
00:20knocked
00:21over by one of those wind gusts that came through here. Now, one of the most significant impacts
00:25out here on the Dauphin Island has absolutely been the storm surge. We've been talking about it and
00:30how, you know, it doesn't necessarily mean just because it's a tropical storm, it can't have
00:34significant impacts. And unfortunately, this is a very popular spot in the summertime, Jeff. And at
00:39the furthest most western point of this island, at some point this morning, the storm surge actually
00:45overtook that area and submerged at least six vehicles on the western end of this island.
00:50And the entire island, or at least most of it this afternoon, remains without power. As we are
00:56coming across the main causeway, the main power poles that are out there, one of those had gotten
01:02blown over and it knocked out power to a majority, if not the entirety of the island. The one gas
01:07station
01:07that's here is open, but they are without power and they are cash only. So a lot of the folks
01:12out here
01:12are in the dark as they assess the situation and begin to clean up a lot of these piles of
01:17sand that
01:18have been pushed from the ocean into the roadway. And one other thing I want to point out too,
01:22we see this problem a lot in the outer banks of North Carolina, where beach erosion eats away a lot
01:28of this sand that is around these homes that might look like they're built right on the ocean,
01:32but they aren't. It's because it's been eaten away by all of the water and the waves crashing along
01:36here. And that's been the case on several homes out here on Zoffin Island. And I tell you, Jeff,
01:41they're probably going to be fine for this event. But if we have a couple of more coastal storms come
01:45through here and this beach erosion gets a lot worse, some of these homes are going to have some
01:49big time issues in the future. And Aaron, some of those vehicles, as you were showing, we've been
01:54showing some of your drone videography here, you know, people probably underestimated the impact if
02:00their vehicles got stuck in the sand there after the storm water overwashed there and the surge came
02:07in. Have you talked to anybody there who kind of dismissed the storm and now they're regretting it?
02:13Yes. And I'm actually glad that you brought that up because that was going to be my next point.
02:16We've talked to a couple of residents out here, not directly with the vehicles that were subverse,
02:20but just a couple of the locals that are out here, you know, maybe if they're on their vacation
02:24or live out here, they were so focused on the rainfall and the winds that they kind of brushed
02:29off the storm surge, especially with how the track was going closer to Louisiana and it caught them
02:34off guard. A gentleman I spoke with earlier actually was telling us that he was expecting worse rainfall
02:39and worse winds, but the surge is what caught them off guard. And that's why we hit so much
02:44about these tropical systems yet, because it's not just one element to these that is the most
02:48significant impact. It's a variety of them and it's how widespread that they are. So even if it
02:53doesn't directly make landfall over you, these impacts are felt far and wide. I mean, really,
03:00leastically, all the way into the eastern Florida panhandle, where we're seeing some storm surge
03:04issues as of yesterday. So just because it's only a tropical storm doesn't mean that folks
03:08along the coast should ever brush these tropical systems off, no matter how weak the wind speeds
03:12are. All right. Very well said. A one to three foot storm surge can still cause big trouble there
03:17if you're in a very low lying area. That's storm chaser Aaron Rigsby. Aaron, thanks so much.
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