Tuscaloosa County, City Schools To Close Monday As Ida Nears

TUSCALOOSA, AL — The Tuscaloosa County School System and Tuscaloosa City Schools will close Monday as Hurricane Ida is expected to bring impacts to west Alabama. The announcement was made to parents Sunday evening.

Area officials continue to brace for the possibility of severe weather Monday into Tuesday, which is expected to bring heavy rain, damaging winds and the possibility for tornadoes. Tuscaloosa County is actively under a Flash Flood Watch until Tuesday.

As Patch reported earlier today, Tuscaloosa Mayor Walt Maddox has activated Level I Incident Command for the City of Tuscaloosa ahead of Hurricane Ida during the beginning of the week. The storm made landfall Sunday morning in Louisiana as a powerful Category 4 storm with winds in excess of 150 mph.

Tuscaloosa County EMA offers a free emergency notifications service - TuscALERT — that sends updates on severe weather directly to your phone, email or mobile device. Click here to sign up for TuscALERT.

Click here for a map of storm shelters across the Tuscaloosa metro. The Tuscaloosa County EMA website also provides regular updates on when shelters open during severe weather events.

Have a news tip or suggestion on how I can improve Tuscaloosa Patch? Maybe you're interested in having your business become one of the latest sponsors for Tuscaloosa Patch? Email all inquiries to me at ryan.phillips@patch.com.