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Hurricane Isaias · Tuscaloosa County, AL

A Trailer on Your Lot in Tuscaloosa
After Hurricane Isaias

If your home in Tuscaloosa, Northport, and unincorporated Tuscaloosa County is not livable after Isaias, you may be able to stay on your own property while it is repaired. We deliver a furnished travel trailer to your driveway or yard, set it up, have it connected, and service it for the whole stay. When a carrier approves the trailer, we can bill the carrier directly.

Local rules. Tuscaloosa bars living in an RV parked in a residential district, and Northport's disaster rule covers a manufactured home, not an RV, so ask either city first; the county has no RV rule online. Each rule is linked to its official source below.

Housing a crew? No code we found in Tuscaloosa or Northport lets a crew live in RVs on a job site; both allow a contractor office on site, not living quarters. Crew rules and housing

Satellite: GOES-East. Radar: NEXRAD. Track, cone, and warnings: National Hurricane Center Advisory 13. All at 4 PM CDT Oct. 9. Latest forecast: nhc.noaa.gov

Hurricane Isaias and Tuscaloosa County

Go back into an evacuated area, and plan a delivery there, only when local officials say it is safe, and follow road closures. For Tuscaloosa County, official updates come from the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Agency and Alabama EMA.

Storm facts

  • The storm. At 4 p.m. CDT on October 9, 2026, National Hurricane Center Advisory 13 had Isaias as a Category 3 hurricane, expected to make landfall along the coast of the western Florida Panhandle that evening. The hurricane warning ran from Ocean Springs, Mississippi, to the Bay and Gulf county line in Florida. National Hurricane Center
  • Alabama. Governor Ivey declared a state of emergency for 40 Alabama counties and ordered non-residents, tourists, and visitors to evacuate Baldwin County south of the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway and Dauphin Island. Office of the Governor of Alabama, update of October 8, 2026
  • West central Alabama. At 4 p.m. CDT on October 9, 2026, National Hurricane Center Advisory 13 expected Isaias to make landfall on the western Florida Panhandle that evening, and the center then to move across Alabama and into the Tennessee Valley on Saturday and Sunday. It expected weakening to begin after landfall and Isaias to become post-tropical on Saturday. For possible inland watches and warnings, the advisory points to the local National Weather Service forecast office. National Hurricane Center, Advisory 13

Checked against the sources above as of . For current conditions, go to the source.

A trailer on your own lot in Tuscaloosa County

Whether a trailer can stay on your lot is decided by your city, or by the county outside city limits, and by your HOA if you have one. Here is what each one’s own code or official page says, in short. Our parent brand covers the residential RV rules for Tuscaloosa County in detail.

  • City of Tuscaloosa. RVs and trailers parked in a residential district may not be used for living, sleeping, or housekeeping, and the code has no storm or disaster exception for RVs. Its only temporary home option is a mobile home, not an RV, by special exception for a serious family hardship. Ask the city before anyone lives in an RV on the lot. Source: Tuscaloosa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 25-111
  • City of Northport. RVs may be lived in only in RV parks and campgrounds. When fire or natural disaster makes a single-family home unfit to live in, the temporary shelter rule lets a manufactured home, not an RV, sit on the lot during repair or rebuilding, with permits first, water and sanitary facilities, and removal within 14 days after the certificate of occupancy. The Council may set an expedited process in a disaster declaration, so ask the city whether an RV can be approved. Source: Northport Zoning Ordinance, Sec. 7.44
  • Unincorporated Tuscaloosa County. No official page we could find states a rule. Check with the city or county before delivery.

Tuscaloosa County is one of the 40 counties named in Governor Ivey's October 7, 2026 state of emergency proclamation for Isaias.

If insurance may pay for your housing

That depends on your policy and your adjuster. When a carrier approves the trailer, we can bill the carrier directly, so you are not fronting the cost. Our parent brand explains the claim side on 1st Choice Living’s Alabama page. Once the placement is arranged, the trailer, delivery, and service are ours.

Every size arrives furnished, with real beds, a full kitchen, a bathroom with a shower, and heat and air conditioning. More on a trailer on your property while you rebuild.

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 Temporary RV Living, or with our parent brand, 1st Choice Living, for a trailer on your own lot in Tuscaloosa County. They send us the placement, and we deliver, set up, and service the trailer.

Crew trailers on a job site in Tuscaloosa County

For restoration, roofing, tree, utility, and response crews working in Tuscaloosa, Northport, and unincorporated Tuscaloosa County. Bring the housing to the work. We deliver travel trailers to the site, or as close as the ground allows, and set up and connect them the same way we do in a driveway. A two-person crew fits one trailer. A full crew takes a cluster, and the Workforce Bunkhouse sleeps six or more per trailer, with a kitchen and a bathroom the crew shares. One point of contact runs the placement, it lands on one invoice billed directly to the company, and we handle the LOA, COI, and compliance paperwork your office or your client requires.

What the local codes say about trailers on a job site

  • City of Tuscaloosa. A construction-related temporary structure is allowed in every district once a building permit is issued, as a contractor's office or for storing equipment and materials, and comes off within 30 days after the certificate of occupancy; it is not for living. RVs and trailers may not be used for living, sleeping, or housekeeping in a residential district. No crew, watchman, or worker housing allowance for an RV was found. Source: Tuscaloosa Code of Ordinances, Sec. 25-111
  • City of Northport. RVs, including travel trailers, may be lived in only temporarily and only in RV parks and campgrounds. An on-site contractor's office or equipment shed is allowed with a temporary use permit while it serves a construction project, but it may not contain sleeping or cooking accommodations. No crew or watchman housing allowance for an RV was found. Source: Northport Zoning Ordinance, Sec. 3.04
  • Unincorporated Tuscaloosa County. No county zoning ordinance was found, so no county rule allows or bars crew trailers on a job site. The county's Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance requires a floodplain development permit before development in mapped flood hazard areas, and an RV placed there must stay fewer than 180 consecutive days, fully licensed, ready for highway use, and on quick-disconnect utilities, or meet the rules for new construction. Source: Tuscaloosa County Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance (linked from the county floodplain page)

Ask the city building office, or Tuscaloosa County Public Works outside city limits, before delivery, with the address and how long the crew expects to stay. More on crew housing.

Power, water, and sewer for a trailer in Tuscaloosa County

Water, sewer or septic, and electrical connections are completed by licensed, insured contractors from our preferred vendor network, so you do not hire an electrician or a plumber. We look at how far the trailer will sit from the water, sewer, and power it will use, and confirm the site with you on the call before the trailer rolls.

Electric service in Tuscaloosa County comes from the utilities below. Each posts its own outage and storm updates.

  • Alabama Power: serves most of Tuscaloosa County, including Tuscaloosa and Northport
  • Black Warrior EMC: serves parts of Tuscaloosa County; it takes outage reports by phone

Septic: Alabama's onsite sewage rules, which county health departments apply, count a recreational vehicle as a dwelling and say no one may occupy a dwelling unless it has an approved sewage disposal system. If the trailer will tie into a septic system, ask the county health department first. Source: Alabama Administrative Code r. 420-3-1-.05 (onsite sewage)

Permit offices and emergency management in Tuscaloosa County

Call the office for the city where the trailer will sit, or the county office outside city limits. Ask whether a travel trailer may be used there, for how long, and which permits the hookups need.

What we need to start

  • The address where the trailer will sit
  • When you need it, and who is moving in: your household, pets included, or the crew head count
  • What the site has: a route in, firm ground close to level, and where the water, sewer or septic, and power are
  • For a company: in the form, choose “I am arranging it for someone else,” then “Employer housing a crew” or “Contractor or restoration”
  • Any approval the city, county, or HOA has given, or the office you have been working with

Answer a few questions in the request form and a rep calls you back with a written quote, or call (214) 493-1515.

Questions about trailers in Tuscaloosa County

Can I live in a travel trailer on my lot in Tuscaloosa if Isaias leaves my house unlivable?

Not under any rule we found. Tuscaloosa's code says RVs and trailers parked in a residential district may not be used for living, sleeping, or housekeeping, and has no storm or disaster exception for RVs. Ask the Building and Inspection Division at 205-248-5110 before delivery.

Can I put an RV on my lot in Northport while my home is rebuilt?

Northport allows living in an RV only in RV parks and campgrounds. Its temporary shelter rule after a fire or natural disaster covers a manufactured home on the lot, with permits first, not an RV, and the Council may set an expedited process in a disaster declaration. Ask Planning and Inspections at 205-339-7000 whether an RV can be approved.

Can a crew stay in travel trailers on a job site in Tuscaloosa or Northport?

No code we found allows it. Both cities allow a contractor's office or equipment storage on a permitted job site, but not living quarters, and Northport limits living in RVs to RV parks and campgrounds. Ask the city before an occupied trailer goes on a site.

What about unincorporated Tuscaloosa County?

No county zoning or RV rule was found on the county site. In a mapped flood hazard area, the county's Flood Damage Prevention Ordinance requires a floodplain development permit, and an RV there must stay fewer than 180 consecutive days, road-ready, on quick-disconnect utilities, or meet the rules for new construction. Ask Tuscaloosa County Public Works at 205-345-6600.

Do you deliver travel trailers to Tuscaloosa after Hurricane Isaias?

We deliver, set up, and service trailers nationwide, and have since 2004. Put the Tuscaloosa County address in the request form and we confirm the site with you on the call. Plan a delivery only once local officials, including the Tuscaloosa County Emergency Management Agency, say the roads are safe.

Tell us where the trailer needs to be

For your family or a crew, answer a few questions and a rep calls you back with a written quote.