... the appeal of Dauphin Island outweighs the risk. It's quiet compared with bustling resort towns. "It's beautiful," he said.
This story about Dauphin Island beach properties and the plight of owners on the west end is worth reading if for nothing more than this excerpt.
Dauphin Island now rising from storm's roiled depths
DAUPHIN ISLAND - Before Katrina, David Myer's view of the Gulf of Mexico was obstructed by the beach house directly in front of his.
Today, he has Gulf-front property just a few feet from the water. Hurricane Katrina washed away the house in front of his and the stretch of beach it sat on.
"There are people out here that have deeds to property that doesn't exist anymore," said Doug Underhill of Treasure Hills Development, whom Myer hired to rebuild his beach house, replacing it with a modular structure.
Katrina's storm surge destroyed an estimated 250 homes on the west end of Dauphin Island. Some have been rebuilt. On other lots, timber pilings sticking out of the sand are the only indication that a house once stood there.
Nannette Davidson has repaired the damage Katrina did to her house on the west end of Dauphin Island. She and her husband moved here in 1993, and they plan to stay put.
"It's been our dream to live on the beach forever," Davidson said.
Except for how things look on the island's storm-battered west end, she said, things are largely back to normal on the 8-mile-long barrier island. Tourists slathered in oil sun themselves on the public beach. Seafood shops sell packed-to-travel shrimp.
"Dauphin Island is open for business," Mayor Jeff Collier said.
Much of the infrastructure on the west end of the island had to be rebuilt, he said. Construction of a berm to protect from future flooding is planned for early 2007.
"We've come a long way," Collier said. "Of course, you still see a lot of the post-Katrina effects."
The mayor estimated that 20 properties on the island are underwater. "A lot of people are still tied up with insurance claims."
Myer said he thought some homeowners, after dealing with Hurricane Ivan and then Katrina, were hesitant to rebuild right away and wanted first to see what the 2006 Atlantic storm season would bring.
A beach renourishment project is planned to replace the washed-away sand. But houses and lots washed away make some question the wisdom of building here at all.
Myer said the appeal of Dauphin Island outweighs the risk. It's quiet compared with bustling resort towns. "It's beautiful," he said.
As condominiums increasingly take over the Gulf Coast, the barrier island remains a place to find a house on the beach. Or the footings on which they once sat.