ROCKPORT, Texas – Six months after Hurricane Harvey tore through the Texas coast, business owners in the community of Rockport are still feeling the wrath of the storm.
John Fraleigh, owner of Big Wave Boat Works, estimated it would take years before his shop was back on track. Before the storm, Big Wave Boat Works repaired boats and offered charter fishing trips throughout the Rockport area.
Most of the store's steel structure survived the storm, but the category four hurricane destroyed the inside of his shop.
"(The storm) knocked out all the doors, knocked out all the skylights, put about 18 inches a flood water throughout," Fraleigh said. "It took all the tools supplies and once the wind got to going in here dumped it into a big massive pile."
While the building is beginning to look as it did before the storm, Fraleigh said the financial hit still lingers.
"As far as charter fishing goes there's no customers," Fraleigh said. "'Winter Texans' aren't here and our summer tourists don't have any place to stay."
Fraleigh said he's only started to get boat repair orders again within the past two weeks, and he anticipates it will take many years to get back on track financially.
Fraleigh went into the construction business, like he did following Hurricane Katrina, just to stay afloat financially. He estimates his business lost a total $100,000.