Impact on Texas marine industry still unclear
GALVESTON, Texas – Despite warnings of “dangerous, perhaps life-threatening impacts,” issued days before Hurricane Ike hit the Texas coast, few people anticipated the storm would be as damaging as it is now seems it was. However, it will likely be days before the full extent of the damage is known as officials try to keep residents and business owners out of the hardest hit areas in an effort to safely restore basic services.
Marinas and other waterfront businesses in the storm’s path were among those receiving the worst damage. A blog on USAToday.com shows flames shooting from the Galveston Yacht Basin, home to about 125 sailboats, according to the site, which suggested that flooding kept firefighters from battling the blaze.
A two-week-old marine service business along Galveston Bay, The Boat Shop, was damaged by Hurricane Ike, which flooded the shop with 10 feet of water, according to DallasNews.com. The publication also reported that dozens of boats at the Old El Lago Marina on Galveston Bay splintered or sunk.
PayCo Marina is another Galveston business that was hard hit, according to the newspaper, which described the scene at its docks as “fiberglass carnage.” It reported that about a dozen people are “living in wrecked boats at the PayCo Marina until cranes come to disentangle the craft.”
The industry continues to await word from other marine businesses in the hurricane’s path, but one insider suggested those areas hardest hit would take months to recover.
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