APRIL 26, 2015
DAUPHIN ISLAND, ALA. (AP)
Coast Guard crews searched for five people missing Sunday
after recovering two bodies following a powerful weekend storm that capsized
several sailboats competing in a regatta near Mobile Bay.
One body was discovered after Saturday's storm and another
Sunday morning, said Major Steve Thompson, director of the Alabama Department
of Public Safety's Marine Patrol Division.
Authorities said crews used boats and planes to search the
Alabama waters, including areas near Dauphin Island where anxious family
members have gathered at a Coast Guard station awaiting updates. Red Cross
volunteers and an ambulance also were at the site.
Names of the missing and deceased were not immediately
released Sunday. One person was rescued Saturday evening.
More than 100 sailboats and as many as 200 people were
participating in the 57th running of the Dauphin Island regatta in Mobile Bay
when the storm hit Saturday.
Gary Garner, commodore of the Fairhope Yacht Club which
organized the race, said members are "heartbroken."
"We are helping and cooperating fully with the U.S.
Coast Guard and other authorities in accounting for all of the sailors,"
he said in an emailed statement.
Officials on Sunday said not all of the missing were taking
part in the regatta.
Speaking at a news conference in Dauphin Island, Thompson
called Saturday's events "an awful tragedy."
"Our hearts go out to the families, and we are using
all available resources," he added.
Coast Guard Capt. Duke Walker said officials are focused on
finding the missing. Walker said conditions were "optimal" for
Sunday's ongoing search, with light winds and sunny skies on smooth water.
Spokesman Seth Johnson said earlier Sunday that the Coast
Guard will investigate the weather conditions and the decision to go ahead
with the regatta.
The conditions were calm early Saturday before the storm,
according to tourists Joe B. Stuard and Andrea Stuard of Wilmer, who were
watching Sunday as search boats moved offshore.
They were riding their bikes on Dauphin Island as the storm
blew through around 4 p.m. Saturday. "We wouldn't have been out on our
bikes if we knew it was going to come in like that. It was fast and quick. We
made a dash for shelter," Joe B. Stuard said.
National Weather Service Mobile meteorologist John Purdy
said Sunday that the storm moved eastward through Louisiana and Mississippi
quickly, prompting a severe thunderstorm watch at 1:36 p.m. Saturday and a
warning less than an hour later.
The NWS then issued a special marine warning around 3 p.m.
for boaters on several waterways including Mobile Bay, warning of a line of
thunderstorms producing gusty winds, high waves, dangerous lightning and heavy
rains. The notice urged boaters to "seek safe harbor immediately."
"When storms are moving quickly as in this case,
things will change very rapidly especially if you are on a boat in the open
waters," Purdy said.