Isaias Made It To Birmingham. The Consequences Were Deadly.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala.—It’s hard to forget Uncle Bobo. 

And on this humid October day, his nephew says it’s hard to remember him, too. 

Devolin “Bobo” Webster, 66, died unexpectedly in his home Saturday morning as the remnants of Hurricane Isaias passed through the Magic City, more than 200 miles from where the category 2 storm made landfall around 8:30 the night before. 

A tree struck Webster’s home just after 5 a.m., according to the local coroner’s office, crashing through the roof and killing him.

Climate Central, a nonprofit that researches and reports on climate change’s effects on people’s lives, said exceptionally warm sea surface temperatures in the western and central Gulf of Mexico, where the storm formed, were up to 600 times more likely due to human-caused atmospheric warming. 

Webster is one of eight people whose deaths officials have attributed to Isaias and its aftermath: two in Alabama and six in Florida. 

Webster was a truck driver who loved his family, football and fishing, his loved ones said. 

Webster’s nephew Paul Evans said that as a child, he would visit his uncle every summer, memories he still cherishes. Through the years, Evans began to look up to his Uncle Bobo, who helped him to see that it was possible to have a stable job, own a home and still help others. 

“He was my favorite uncle,” Evans said. “He always had a smile on his face.”

Last Christmas, Evans said Webster called him over to his home, gave him an envelope and told him “Merry Christmas.” Evans opened it: $400. 

“It was out of the blue,” he said. “But that’s just who he was.”

That’s what made Webster special, Evans said. 

“He would do such nice things for people and never tell a soul,” Evans said. “He would just do it from the heart.”

Both Webster and another of Evans’ uncles were at home when what remained of Hurricane Isaias passed through Birmingham overnight Friday, bringing about 3 inches of rain and wind gusts of around 50 miles per hour.

Both men were asleep when the tree fell on the home, Evans said. 

“Uncle Bobo was crushed by the tree,” Evans said. “And my other uncle tried to get to him.”

But the fallen tree had knocked a hole in the floor between the two bedrooms, Evans explained. 

“He fell from his room all the way down to the garage floor,” Evans said. “And debris started falling on him. He’s covered in cuts and bruises.” 

While Evans’ other uncle survived, first responders found Webster dead on the scene. 

“We’re devastated,” Evans said of his family. “Uncle Bobo was special to a lot of people.”

Because of Birmingham’s location hundreds of miles from the Gulf Coast, Evans said his uncles likely hadn’t done much to prepare for the weather event. 

That’s not uncommon. 

Research shows that those living in inland areas are less likely to prepare for events like hurricanes they believe are unlikely to impact them. 

One researcher also found that authorities in inland areas were less likely to issue evacuation orders. When they do, the research showed, inland residents were half as likely to evacuate as people living on the coast. 

Climate change is likely to compound the risks caused by these dynamics. As hurricanes continue to intensify, so too will impacts farther inland.

In September 2024, Hurricane Helene made landfall in Florida’s Big Bend region as a Category 4 storm with 140 mph winds before quickly moving far inland, heavily damaging communities in Georgia and the southern Appalachians, with Western North Carolina hardest hit.

Helene killed roughly 250 people in the U.S., including more than 100 in North Carolina. Damage from the hurricane was estimated at about $80 billion. 

In September 2021, Hurricane Ida made landfall at Port Fourchon, Louisiana, and, several days later, merged with a frontal system over the mid-Atlantic and Northeast before swamping parts of Philadelphia, and killing 30 people in flash floods in New Jersey and 13 in New York City, most of whom drowned in basement apartments swamped by flooding.

For Webster’s family in Birmingham, his death has been a way for them to reconnect, even in the wake of tragedy. Webster had recently returned from a fishing trip, his family said, and he’d given them some of his catch. They haven’t had the heart to eat it just yet.

But soon, Evans said, they’ll do what they can to heal from their unexpected loss, cleaning Uncle Bobo’s fish, scale by scale. They’ll fry them up in the Alabama sun and make a day of it.

It’s what Uncle Bobo would’ve wanted.