Published: September 18, 2008 05:43 pm      

Recovery efforts beginning on Pleasure Island

By Mary Meaux

The News-Leader



Guy Rogers bought a 32-foot Wellcraft boat in hopes of taking the large boat, named Dream Spinner, out on the Neches River and spending time with his family.

Instead he and his son, Dylan, 13, ate Meals Ready to Eat for lunch on their stranded boat on a levee on Pleasure Island Thursday.

The boat was moored at Port Arthur Yacht Club and floated, along with numerous water craft including a houseboat, across the street when Hurricane Ike struck the coast.

Rogers said he had just bought the boat before Ike hit and spent only one night on board.

“I bought this two days before the storm and I still have the title in my truck. I have no insurance,” the Beaumont man said as he looked toward the blue and white boat. “I’ll try and salvage it but this is catastrophic to me.”

Elsewhere, U.S. Coast Guard on Pleasure Island continued their task of cleaning out their building and keeping the waterway safe.

USCG Chief Nick Beaver said the No. 1 building had water about waist deep ruining everything inside. Piles of debris from the facility were moved to a single location. Just outside the gates Petty Officer Jeremy Ingram held steady to a small front end loader that was stuck in a deep pocket of mud. Another Coastie tied a line from a truck to the Bobcat and pulled the piece of machinery to higher ground.

The effects of Ike can be seen in many areas of the island, from drowned nutria rats to deadly water moccasins to roaming alligators. Walls of salt grass about five foot tall clogged a canal near Logan Park and the RV Park on the South Levee Road is destroyed. The shell of the main building remains intact though the inside is gutted.

A small trailer home near the main building lie in shambles and nearby a red GMC truck remains in a low lying area almost totally covered in marsh grass, wood pilings and other debris.

The restroom facilities near the boat ramp on South Levee Road is nothing but a bile of rubble and covered tables were hard hit by wind and water damage.

Farther down the road Steve Bundic and Daman Mackey took advantage of the cooler temperatures and went fishing.

The Beaumont men do not have electricity at their homes and were bored, they said, and also curious to see the damage to the island.

Some areas of the island remain impassible and police and state troopers are on duty. The city of Port Arthur remains under an 8 p.m. to 6 a.m. curfew.