Dauphin Island is not a permanent thing. It's an argument the Gulf is having with the continent, and the Gulf is winning on points.
Hurricane Frederick hit in 1979. Category 3. It destroyed the causeway bridge and 140 homes. Residents had to be ferried back to their own island. People rebuilt.
In 2004, Hurricane Ivan cut a documented 1.35-kilometer breach through the island's west end. A year later, Katrina — which made landfall far to the west — sent its surge east across the Gulf. The storm's eye never crossed Dauphin Island. It didn't need to. The surge destroyed 450 of roughly 500 homes on the west end, a 90 percent destruction rate, and opened a 1.5-mile gap where neighborhood streets had been. Some of the land under those houses washed into the Gulf permanently. Yale Environment 360 called it the unluckiest island in America.
The island today is measurably smaller and differently shaped than it was before 2004. It is also migrating — northward, slowly, as barrier islands do, building on the bay side while the Gulf eats the south shore. Hurricane Sally came through in 2020 and cut off 500 homes.
People rebuilt again. They always do here. What that says about the island, you can decide.
