Flooding in Alabama, March 8, 1998

Name: Flooding in Alabama, March 8, 1998
Start: 1998-03-08T02:00
End: 1998-03-08T06:00
Location: Alabama

March 8, 1998 · NWS MOB · 2 events in 2 counties and zones

A strong persistent southerly wind caused coastal flooding and beach erosion from Orange Beach to Dauphin Island for the second month in a row. The tide gage at the Alabama state Docks reached a little over three feet around 200 am.

The toll

Deaths: 0
Injuries: 0
Property damage: $40,000
Crop damage: None recorded
Events: 2

Deaths and injuries are direct and indirect together, as the offices filed them. Damage is property and crops in the dollars of the year, not adjusted for inflation, and only where an office estimated it.

What happened

The episode as NWS MOB wrote it up.

Coastal Flooding...A strong persistent southerly wind caused coastal flooding and beach erosion from Orange Beach to Dauphin Island for the second month in a row. The tide gage at the Alabama state Docks reached a little over three feet around 200 am. The west bound lanes of the causeway had to be closed for a while due to high water and debris in the road. Highway 193 leading to the Dauphin Island Bridge had water blown across it by the crashing waves.

Event by event

2 flood. Local standard time, as filed.

Flood, Lower Baldwin

When: March 8, 2:00 AM CST to 6:00 AM CST
Where: Lower Baldwin forecast zone
Property damage: $15,000

Flood, Lower Mobile

When: March 8, 2:00 AM CST to 6:00 AM CST
Where: Lower Mobile forecast zone
Property damage: $25,000

What these are

Flood: Flooding that develops more slowly than a flash flood: rivers leaving their banks, or water standing over land for an extended time.

After NWS Directive 10-1605, the rules offices file Storm Data by.

The same day elsewhere

Every storm in Alabama in 1998 Every state in 1998 This day in weather history Warnings in Alabama, March 1998

Sources

NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database, compiled from the National Weather Service’s monthly Storm Data. Complete through 2026-06; NCEI adds each month about 75 days after it ends and revises past years a few times a year. Rebuilt 2026-09-24. Each event’s entry at NCEI: 5639830, 5639831.