Harvey put people out of work





Jonathon Salmon worked as a cook at Moby Dick’s restaurant before the storm. Now, he has lost everything. He’s shown here with the equipment he once used inside the Port Aransas restaurant, and that now sits outside.

Jonathon Salmon worked as a cook at Moby Dick’s restaurant before the storm. Now, he has lost everything. He’s shown here with the equipment he once used inside the Port Aransas restaurant, and that now sits outside.

As Hurricane Harvey devastated the Gulf Coast, Port Aransas included, not only were homes, vehicles and memories lost, but many people are no longer employed since businesses also were affected by the storm.

Port Aransas took a major hit from the category 4 storm, which had sustained winds higher than 130 mph, causing destruction across town.

The high winds and water left some businesses without a storefront.

One of those stores is Deep Sea Headquarters, which is owned by the Owens family who employ 140 people in Port Aransas between three restaurants, a golf cart rental business, boat tour and guided fishing trips.

“We are trying to open as soon as possible for our employees,” said Beth Owens.

Owens is advising hourly employees to file for disaster unemployment assistance through the Texas Workforce Commission. Salaried employees have remained on payroll and are working to get the business up and running, she said.

Not all employees will return to work for the Owens family because some were forced to move out of state with relatives, while others had no other choice than to find employment elsewhere.

Owens, a city council member, has been an advocate for sustainable living in Port Aransas for the workforce.

“We need it even more since the hurricane hit,” she said. “We have to get our families back in Port Aransas.”

Many employees who have lost every- thing are renting apartments, Owens said.

“We are in desperate need of long-term rentals,” she said.

Deep Sea Headquarters is booked for this weekend, and those wishing to fish said they would come if they could find a place to stay, Owens said.

Those who work on the Red Dragon pirate boat will get back to work soon as well. Plans are for trips to begin running in Corpus Christi soon, she said.

Fins Grill and Icehouse is the closest to opening, hopefully in less than two weeks. Once Fins opens, Owens said employees who work at The Brewery and MacDaddy’s Family Kitchen will be welcomed to work.

“When you work for us, you work for everything,” she said.

But those employees will have to have customers to remain at work, and that is what Owens thinks Port Aransas needs.

“To help Port A, we need to get this economy going,” she said. “If you want to help Port A, come to all the restaurants, come to our beach, come fishing. That’s what we need.”

Jonathon Salmon, 24, has worked off and on at Moby Dick’s Restaurant for the last eight years as a cook, he said.

It could be more than seven months before he can return to work there from what he has heard, he said.

Not only did Salmon lose his job, he lost everything, he said.

“I have two small boxes with everything I own,” Salmon said.

He has rented a room for this month at Amelia’s Landing Hotel, which opened its doors earlier this week to locals.

He started assisting in demolition work hoping to make a few extra dollars, but he is looking to find more permanent employment by commuting to Corpus Christi. He may have to permanently move out of Port Aransas if he can’t find work here, he said.

“I prefer to be in Port Aransas,” Salmon said. “This is my home.”

Salmon has lived in Port Aransas since 2008, and he graduated from Port Aransas High School in 2011.

He hopes to return to his position once Moby Dick’s re-opens, he said.

“It’s heartbreaking. I loved my work. I loved my job. I loved my co-workers,” Salmon said. “They are my family.”

He believes he will have a position when the restaurant is able to get back on its feet, he said.

“Mr. Ziegler is a very upstanding and respectable man,” Salmon said about Ed Ziegler, who owns the restaurant.

Seafood and Spaghetti Works appeared undamaged from the exterior, but the interior was covered in water, according to Jay Kenigsberg, who owns the restaurant.

Water damaged floors, sub floors and seeped into the sheetrock, he said.

“It looked unaffected on the outside,” Kenigsberg said.

The water not only damaged floors inside the restaurant, which is located on State Highway 361, but water damage will require resetting between six and 10 pilings, he said.

Kenigsberg has had assistance from his managerial staff to get the building ready by Nov. 1.

With a year-round staff of 36, the owners hope all their employees will return to work, and feel like they want to be back.

“They are ready to go,” he said about his employees. “We are very hopeful we will have all 36 back.”

A Facebook page was created to contact employees as well as providing updates on when they will be allowed to return to work.

Kenigsberg is thankful he has a great managerial staff that has been involved in restoring the restaurant.


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