After the storm Weather 'devastates' Lake Texoma businesses and organizations

June 05--Last summer, lake-going crowds were deterred from their vacations by low water levels. This summer, the exact opposite problem has created serious issues for businesses in the area.

"At least over 50 percent of the Refuge is under water," Hagerman National Wildlife Refuge Manager Rick Cantu said. "... The main road to the Refuge is probably 22 feet under water. It's quite a picture when you see it."

The water and storm damage stretches beyond Hagerman -- the marinas surrounding the lake also felt the dramatic effects of the weather.

"We're basically a very small island right now," Cedar Mills Marina Owner Kris Worstell said. "... Roads coming in and out of here are blocked off, so our crew is basically walking to and from work through a little dirt trail. It's quite the sight."

It's the same case for other Lake Texoma marinas. Although half the cabins are under water at Lighthouse Marina and Resort, Reservation Specialist Beth Hutchinson said the business is trying to make the best out of a bad situation.

"The other half (of our cabins) we are renting and people are coming and staying," she said. "All of our sunset dinner cruises are going on as scheduled, ... we are running all of those and renting pontoons. ... We do have Oasis at the Lighthouse at our High Water Club, and that's open every day of the week with a little better lake view than what we anticipated."

In spite of high spirits, the water levels still washed away summer anticipations of a gushing lake season. Hutchinson said before the storms, Lighthouse Marina was completely booked. Many of those reservations have been cancelled. Over at Tanglewood Resort, Director Greg Dick agreed, and said although the resort didn't experience any flooding, the impact of the weather has been "devastating."

"What affected our business was the lake ... being flooded," he said. "It's financially devastating to our business. We have three big weekends a year, which are the summer holidays, and we lost Memorial Day weekend. We're hoping that we don't lose the Fourth of July, but that's up in the air."

When damage this extensive strikes local businesses, many are forced to rely on expensive insurance policies to cover the costs. In some cases, however, that's just not feasible.

"Flood insurance has gotten somewhat cost-prohibitive, so subsequently we have a lot of buildings that we have zero coverage on," Worstell said. "We try to maintain some coverage on buildings that are below the spillway ... but there's going to be a whole lot of out of pocket."

Most marinas faced water damage, some extensively. RV parks were completely flooded, offices were abandoned as water seeped into the buildings, phone systems stopped working, electricity went down, roads were blocked off and debris scattered throughout Lake Texoma.

"We did meet with the lake businesses in the middle of May, and we did set up a special damage reporting mechanism on our website for lake businesses and recreational areas, but the truth is we know that many of those businesses have just been devastated for the summer of 2015," Sarah Somers, director of the Grayson County Office of Emergency Management, said.

In Worstell's time at Cedar Mills Marina, he said he'd never seen flooding with such traumatic effects.

"I experienced the 1990 flood, which was comparable, but the marina's grown since then, so we've got more facilities and a lot more things that have suffered as a result of the flood compared to 1990," he said. "... The last 3 feet have been devastating to us. This is probably the worst we've experienced."

Memorial Day Weekend was supposed to kick off the tourist season. As tornado sirens filled the air to add to the torrential rain, however, Memorial Day plans were cancelled to keep everyone indoors. The sun has returned, but many businesses are still reeling with recovery efforts.

"We've basically lost our summer season, which is our time to make ends meet," Worstell said. "It's tough. But we've been through it before and we'll figure out a way to work through this one."

For now, the marinas simply have to take precautions and rebuild, one step at a time.

"It's just a day by day function," Worstell said. "Every day the water goes down further and we've got debris that's on the bank that needs to be cleaned up and buildings start becoming accessible and they need to be cleaned up. ... It's just a big project."

Most marina business will depend on how fast the lake levels come down. Once the water is cleared out, cabins and roads can be inspected and repair work can begin.

"That's the million-dollar question, is when (the marinas are) going to be back to full speed," Hutchinson said. "I don't think we'll be back to 100 percent this summer, but we're going to be operating on as many cylinders as we can with the cabins we do have."

It's a process that takes time, Cantu said. Although water levels have receded, customers shouldn't assume a business is ready to open its doors or its roadways.

"A lot of times when people see a dry road they think, 'OK, I can drive it,'" he said. "But depending on the substance under the road and how heavy the vehicle traffic is and what kind of vehicles you bring on here, ... it will cause ruts, so what we like to do is get the water off the road and get the debris off and let the roads dry out and then see if we can get them back into drivable shape."

As lakeside businesses continue to dry out, the OEM is tapping into resources for help. A request has been submitted to the joint teams from the Texas Division of Emergency Management and FEMA to assess the damage in Grayson County to provide much-needed aid. The OEM is also encouraging folks to visit their website at http://www.co.grayson.tx.us/ to report damaged property for the OEM's damage assessment report. This report will be passed up to the state and federal government to qualify the community.

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