August 24, 2018 — Cory Phipps didn’t know what to expect on the family vacation to the Alabama Gulf Coast this year.
The last time he visited Gulf Shores and Orange Beach was 2008, some 2 years before the Deepwater Horizon oil spill sparked an environmental and economic disaster of monumental proportions.
“We were hoping it would be nice,” the Gadsden resident said in late-July, as he frolicked in the waters off Gulf State Park with his daughters Rory and Tory. “Of course we had heard about the oil spill and all the trouble it caused. But just look around, it’s beautiful. We like Gulf Shores much more than Panama City and some of the other beaches. It’s more family friendly down here.”
On April 20, 2010, an explosion and fire on the Deepwater oil well set in motion what many experts have called the greatest marine ecological disaster in history. The offshore well was about 40 miles south of Louisiana. The fire and explosion took 11 lives on the rig. And when the gushing well was declared sealed on Sept. 19, 2010, 4.9 million barrels of oil (or about 210 million gallons) had poured into the Gulf, according to U.S. government estimates.
Fisheries and beaches were closed as the oil spill migrated north and east along the Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and the Florida Panhandle coasts. Hotels and condos went empty and cities that rely on tourism, such as Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, became veritable ghost towns at the height of the season.