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Broken but not beaten, Gulfport faces a long road back

Bill DeYoung

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According to Gulfport Marina Director Denis Frain, 13 watercraft will need to be removed from the Gulfport shorefront. Photos by Bill DeYoung.

Block after block, the curbs of Gulfport’s modest neighborhood homes are piled high with broken, waterlogged furniture, appliances, drapes and rugs, the wreckage of Hurricane Helene’s unprecedented storm surge.

Early estimates say the churning water of Boca Ciega Bay rose as high as six feet, and into homes and businesses, when the big storm passed by Sept. 26.

Tuesday afternoon, sailboats and other watercraft lay strewn across the public beach parking lot – three in silent repose together, stacked like firewood, against the Historic Gulfport Casino seawall. Crews operating heavy machinery picked up thick sections of floating dock showing jagged edges, telltale signs of a violent encounter.

Gulfport Marina director Denis Frain stood on the partially-buckled sidewalks of Shore Boulevard, which runs adjacent to the bay, fielding phone calls from anxious boatowners who wanted to know when the marina might re-open.

Maybe six months, he tells them. It’s pretty bad out here.

Every one of the restaurants and bars bordering Shore Boulevard, from O’Maddy’s on the east end to the Sea Breeze on the west – was inundated with water. Even giant Pia’s Trattoria, three blocks north of the bay on Beach Boulevard, flooded.

Employees, families and friends swarmed in and out of the businesses mopping, cleaning and repairing as best they could without electricity or running water.

Workers from the Servpro company were inside the Casino, mitigating the water damage and removing warped sections of the polished wood dance floor.

Frain said there were 13 beached, wrecked or partially sunken boats in the area. “We’re starting the removal process now, getting rid of these vessels.”

The Gulfport Marina, he explained, “sustained major damage to the South Basin. The water was over the electrical pedestals, so we’re not going to have any electric for some time. Our fuel is down. All the contents inside the Ship’s Store were destroyed. So basically, we’re in the assessment mode.”

Both the Marina Pier and the Casino Pier were severely damaged; Frain said they were “condemned.”

The next step, any minute now, is the arrival of FEMA officers and insurance company representatives, to see what needs to be done, financially, to turn life around for Gulfport residents.

Fiona Whelan Prine, whose home is less than two blocks from the beach on 56th Street, evacuated Sept. 25. “I took what was precious,” she said, “and the rest was destroyed.”

When she returned after the storm, “it was evident that I’d had, altogether, probably four or five feet of water in the back of the house. And a couple of feet in the front.

“We salvaged some stuff, and I donated it already, and the rest is sitting out on the sidewalk.”

Fiona Whelan Prine. Instagram photo.

Prine bought the Gulfport house in 2005 with her husband, singer/songwriter John Prine. Since his death from Covid in 2020, she has continued to live there.

Named for one of her late husband’s songs, The Hello in There Foundation raises money for various causes, including helping victims of natural disasters.  “We immediately made an appeal,” she said, “and we’ve raised a lot of money already.” Probably $50,000, she believes, earmarked for hurricane disaster relief in Gulfport.

Through Oct. 8, The Hello in There Foundation will match, 1:1, all donations earmarked for Gulfport hurricane aid. Donate here.

Proceeds from the Foundation’s Oct. 9-12 “You Got Gold” concerts in Nashville will go towards hurricane relief in all states affected by Helene. “We’ll spread it all the way through where it’s needed through the southeast.”

The Prines raised their two sons, for part of every year, in Gulfport. “This was our home from home,” she said. “This is where John was able to actually have down time away from the road.

“People knew us, and we had amazing, incredible neighbors and friends. And John just absolutely adored it. I mean, walk to the beach, have a hot dog, say hello to a few neighbors – and honestly, it’s been a refuge for me since John died.

“I don’t know that I’ll be able to come back to that house, but I’ll continue to be in this area, somewhere.”

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