Temporary Housing on Your Lot in Tuscaloosa After Hurricane Isaias

This page is for homeowners in Tuscaloosa, Northport, and unincorporated Tuscaloosa County, Alabama, if Hurricane Isaias left your home unlivable. Alabama has no statewide rule on living in a travel trailer on your own lot while you rebuild, and the current Tuscaloosa and Northport codes do not carry a storm exception for RVs. Northport does have a written disaster rule for a manufactured home on the lot, and the county shows no zoning program, so the answer depends on your address and on the kind of unit. 1st Choice Living has placed furnished travel trailers on homeowners' own property, nationwide, since 2004, and we bill the carrier directly under ALE where the claim covers it.

Hurricane Isaias and the Tuscaloosa area

Storm facts as of October 9, 2026, 5 p.m. CDT, from official sources:

• The storm. In its 4 p.m. CDT advisory on October 9, 2026, the National Hurricane Center said Isaias was a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds near 115 mph, and that it was forecast to make landfall along the coast of the western Florida Panhandle that evening and then move across Alabama. Source
• Warnings. That advisory had a hurricane warning in effect from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay and Gulf County line in Florida, and said storm surge could reach 6 to 9 feet above ground from the Alabama and Florida border to Grayton Beach, Florida. Source
• Alabama. Governor Kay Ivey declared a state of emergency for 40 Alabama counties, effective 4 p.m. CDT on October 7, 2026. On October 8 she ordered non-residents, tourists, and visitors to leave Baldwin County south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, including Gulf Shores and Orange Beach, and Zone 1 in Mobile County, including Dauphin Island. Source

In the same 4 p.m. CDT advisory, the National Hurricane Center said the center was expected to move across Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley, with weakening expected after landfall, and its forecast advisory had the center moving inland across Alabama and becoming post-tropical on Saturday, October 10.

The advisory forecast 2 to 5 inches of rain across much of the Southeast beyond southern Alabama, with localized higher amounts, and said flash, urban, and river flooding was possible across the region.

Inland, the risk named in the advisory is wind, rain, and tornadoes rather than storm surge. If a tree comes through the roof or water gets in, a home can become unlivable far from the Gulf, and the same Additional Living Expenses coverage applies as on the coast.

State of emergency. Tuscaloosa County is one of the 40 counties named in Governor Ivey's Hurricane Isaias state of emergency proclamation, effective 4 p.m. CDT on October 7, 2026. Source

Return to your property only when local officials say it is safe. Stay out of flood water and keep clear of downed lines. For roads, shelters, and re-entry, follow the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Agency. For the current forecast, go to the National Hurricane Center.

Local rules on living in an RV on your lot

Start with where your address sits. Tuscaloosa and Northport each have their own code and permit office. Tuscaloosa County's website shows no zoning or building permit program for the unincorporated county; Public Works handles floodplain permits.

Tuscaloosa's code has one temporary home option: a mobile home, not an RV, on a lot with an existing home, allowed only by a special exception permit from the Zoning Board of Adjustment to ease a serious family hardship, and removed within 30 days after the hardship ends. The code does not say storm damage qualifies, so ask the city.

Northport's temporary shelter rule says that when fire or natural disaster makes a single-family home unfit to live in, a manufactured home may be placed on the lot during repair or rebuilding, with permits issued first, water and sanitary facilities, a permit of up to six months that the Building Official may extend, a total of no more than one year unless the Council sets otherwise in a disaster declaration, and removal within 14 days after the certificate of occupancy. It also says the Council may set up an expedited approval process through a disaster declaration. A travel trailer is not a manufactured home under Northport's code, so ask the city whether any Council declaration covers one.

Septic: Alabama's onsite sewage rules, which county health departments apply, define a dwelling to include a recreational vehicle and say a building may not be occupied as a dwelling unless it has an approved sewage disposal system. Installing or repairing a septic system needs a permit from the county health department. We did not find a county rule written specifically for RV septic hookups.

Rules here were read on official city and county pages on October 9, 2026 and can change after a storm. The side-by-side table for every Isaias area is on Hurricane Isaias RV rules by county.

How the trailer is billed: Additional Living Expenses

Additional Living Expenses, or ALE, sometimes called loss of use, pays for somewhere to live while the house is not livable. Ask your carrier whether your policy includes it and what the limit is. The Alabama Department of Insurance explains that additional living expenses reimburse the cost of your additional living arrangements, and it lists a trailer alongside a hotel or an apartment. It says you will need all receipts to be reimbursed.

• Local rules for your address checked before delivery.
• A furnished travel trailer that sleeps 2 to 10, with a kitchen, a bathroom, real beds, and heat and air, delivered, leveled, and set up on your property.
• Utilities connected by licensed, insured contractors from our preferred vendor network, planned around what is actually working at the property.
• Site conditions documented at setup and again at takedown.
• Direct billing to your carrier under ALE where the claim covers it, tracked against your ALE limit. On a covered claim that is $0 out of pocket for your family.
• One named contact from the first call to the day the unit leaves.

Flood is different. National Flood Insurance Program policies do not provide additional living expense coverage. If your home also had damage your homeowners policy covers, such as wind, ask your adjuster how ALE applies. This is general information, not legal or coverage advice. Your policy and your adjuster decide what is covered.

Already working with a temporary housing company?

We work with any temporary housing company. If one is handling your housing, ask them to place you with 1st Choice Living for a trailer on your own lot in Tuscaloosa. They send us the placement, we deliver, set up, and service the trailer, and the billing runs through them or straight to your carrier, whichever way their program works.

What we need to start

• The property address in Tuscaloosa and whether it is inside city limits.
• How many people are in the household.
• Your claim number and your adjuster’s name and contact.
• Your ALE limit, if your adjuster has told you.

From there we check the local rules for that address, confirm the lot can take a unit, and plan setup around what is safe and working at the property. If a trailer on your lot is not the right fit, we will tell you. Adjusters and housing companies can send a placement through for adjusters and carriers.

More Hurricane Isaias pages

• Temporary housing after Hurricane Isaias: storm facts, safety, and ALE for Alabama, Mississippi, and Florida.
• Hurricane Isaias RV rules by county: every area in one table.
• Our Alabama temporary housing page.
• Nearby: Birmingham area, AL
• Nearby: Selma (Dallas County), AL
• More inland Alabama pages: Brewton and Atmore (Escambia County, AL), Andalusia (Covington County), Dothan and Enterprise (The Wiregrass), Montgomery area.
• Travel trailers for crews and families after Hurricane Isaias from Temporary RV Living.
• Drone documentation after Hurricane Isaias from LossMap, to record roof and property damage before cleanup.

Frequently asked questions