By Alabama Public Radio
Gulf Shores, AL – Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge is scheduled to visit Gulf Shores Monday to survey the damage from Ivan. Ridge plans to travel to Gulf Shores after a visit to the wreckage in Pensacola. Meanwhile...Governor Riley says, as of Sunday, almost two million pounds of ice, 192-thousand gallons of water and 304-thousand ready-to-eat meals had been distributed in 12 counties in south and central Alabama. Insurance adjusters have also moved into the coastal communities of Gulf Shores and Orange Beach. They're now checking property damaged by Ivan. State Insurance Commissioner Walter Bell says the adjusters are working despite a diminishing gasoline supply and a shortage of safe lodging. Bell says the state Department of Insurance is also trying to make it easier for companies to get their adjusters to the coast. About 195-thousand homes and businesses remain without power in the state today. That's down from 390-thousand yesterday. Alabama Power officials say it could be several more days before most areas have their power restored. And that time could be longer for flooded, more heavily damaged parts of Baldwin County, and rural areas. Officials say repair crews in those areas work for two or three hours but are only able to restore power to a few homes. Alabama's electric cooperatives also report that line crews have restored power to about 95 percent of its electrical transmission system in south and central Alabama. Electric cooperatives serve customers in 39 counties in the state. And the Port of Mobile remains closed to shipping, along with other ports along the Gulf Coast. The Coast Guard says all ports from Gulfport, Mississippi, to Saint Marks, Florida, remain closed because of Hurricane Ivan. The only water traffic allowed at the Port of Mobile will be local, state and federal crews working to restore the waterways. Officials say multiple areas in the vicinity of Mobile still need to be surveyed. The Coast Guard also says numerous sunken vehicles are still in the vicinity of Dauphin Island. And navigation aids in the Arlington Channel are also either damaged or knocked off their correct position. The Channel is in Mobile Bay near McDuffie Island. Meanwhile...a dusk-to-dawn curfew has been lifted in all of Mobile County except for Dauphin Island. Steve Huffman is the spokesman for the Mobile County Emergency Management Agency. He says the curfew on the island will remain in place for 10 p-m to 5 a-m. Curfews also remain in effect in Baldwin County. The cities of Gulf Shores and Spanish Fort are maintaining a 7 a-m to 7 p-m curfew. And there's a dusk-to-dawn curfew in Bay Minette, Orange Beach, Summerdale and other unincorporated areas of the county.