GALVESTON, Texas (AP) â Vacuums sucked the water out of the seaside inn run by Nick Gaidoâs family in Galveston since 1911 as power was still spotty nearly one week after a resurgent Hurricane Beryl swept into Texas. Blue tarp covered much of the torn off roof. Gaido scheduled cleanup shifts for the hotel and restaurant staff who couldnât afford to lose shifts to the enduring outages.
The July 4th weekend was supposed to kickstart a lucrative tourism season for this popular getawayâs hospitality industry. But just dozens dotted the typically crowded beaches one week later. Gaido felt an urgent need to send the message that Galveston, Texas, is back open.
âWeâve dealt with storms in late August or in September,â Gaido said. âBut when you have a storm that hits in the beginning of July, thatâs different.â
Galveston â about 50 miles (80 kilometers) southeast of Houston â has certainly weathered its share of natural disasters. Etched into its collective memory is the fury of a 1900 hurricane that killed thousands back when the island was emerging as a crown jewel for the state. More recently, Hurricane Ikeâs 2008 wrath flooded its historic downtown with storm surge as high as 20 feet and caused more than $29 billion in damage.
Yet even greater Houstonâs storm-seasoned neighbors got taken off guard by Berylâs sudden arrival. Crashing unusually early in the calendar, the Category 1 hurricane brought the islandâs tourism-based economy to a halt during a time when local restaurants rely on an influx of beachgoers to lift revenues. Despite the widespread power outage, businesses and residents are buckling down.
In the harder-hit west side of Jamaica Beach, Way West Grill and Pizzeria was still without electricity on Saturday afternoon. Owner Jake Vincent felt stuck in limbo: he had heard power would return by July 19 but had hope it might come sooner.
The loss ruined his entire inventory. He said enough mozzarella cheese to fill the back of his truck had gone to waste. Also spoiled was an 8-foot chest full of fries and an estimated 3,000 pounds of pepperonis.
Vincent no longer expects much from a year he had anticipated would finally bring âdaylightâ for his family-run restaurant founded in 2018. He said most of their annual sales come during the three summer months and that âthis tourism season is probably done for.â
âIt complicates things,â he said. âYou bank all your summer money to get through the winter.â
Downed cables and orange construction cones could be found along the road linking the touristy strandâs seafood shacks to the west endâs colorful short-term rentals. Crews from Houston-area utility CenterPoint stood atop lifts, sweating as they restored line after line.
Still without power Saturday morning, Greg Alexander raked debris to the edge of the street in his Jamaica Beach neighborhood. Despite sleeping in a balcony-level room in a house already raised high off the ground, he said water poured into the windows. Berylâs horizontal winds blew rain right onto his bed.
Itâs just a part of life here for Alexander. His family moved full-time to Galveston in 2017 after he said Hurricane Harvey dumped 38 inches of water into their Lake City home. Without power, he said theyâve been âappreciating our carâs air conditioning more than ever.â
He doesnât plan to leave. He said trials only strengthen the community.
âPeople on the west end arenât like everybody else,â he said.
Steve Broom and Debra Pease still lacked power on Saturday but had been beating the heat elsewhere. Broom said theyâd already booked a hotel in Houston this week so his daughter could use the Galveston beach house where theyâve lived full-time for about five years. They spent only the first night in Galveston and opted to sleep the rest of the week in their nonrefundable room.
Steve Broom, 72, said he had never seen a hurricane come as early or increase as quickly as Beryl. Still, he joked that just one factor could force him to move off the island where he grew up.
âIf they wipe out all these houses, then weâll be front row and our property value will probably double or triple,â he said, before clarifying: âNo, I hope that doesnât happen.â
Anne Beem and her husband come every July from San Antonio to celebrate their birthdays. For her, the aftermath has been far worse than the hurricane itself.
They enjoyed a nice breeze with the windows open after the storm passed Monday. But she said Tuesday night brought âmosquito-geddon.â Hundreds of bugs filled the house so they slept in their car with the air conditioning blasting.
She said they also bought a kiddie pool to cool off before the power came back Thursday night.
âWe just tried to look at it as an adventure,â she said. âEach day was some fresh hell.â