A Decade Later, Ala Seafood Town Rebounding From Katrina

Hurricane Katrina only sideswiped Alabama as it devastated coastal Mississippi and New Orleans a decade ago, but Belinda Clark’s family is still recovering in the town that calls itself the state’s seafood capital.

Boats line up in Bayou Terre aux Boeufs during the blessing of the fleet in Delacroix, La., Saturday, Aug. 8, 2015. It was the first blessing of the fleet since the coastal fishing and shrimping community was devastated by Hurricane Katrina a decade ago. AP Photo/Gerald Herbert

BAYOU LA BATRE, Ala.—Hurricane Katrina only sideswiped Alabama as it devastated coastal Mississippi and New Orleans a decade ago, but Belinda Clark’s family is still recovering in the town that calls itself the state’s seafood capital.

The storm left 11 feet of water in her family’s Bay Shirt Co. store, smack in the middle of downtown, and damaged their other shop on Dauphin Island. Once the storm passed, dozens of shrimp boats rested atop docks and marshes, seafood processers were wiped out and about 75 percent of its homes were damaged or destroyed.

The Clarks’ two stores recovered with the help of federal loans, she said, and the family actually added a bait shop and restaurant after Katrina. But then the Gulf oil spill whacked all the businesses again in 2010, forcing the family to close their post-Katrina ventures.

Once the storm passed seafood processers were wiped out and about 75 percent of its homes were damaged or destroyed.