Dauphin Island still recovering from Isaac

DAUPHIN ISLAND, Ala. (WALA) - The Gulf Coast is no stranger to the aftermath of hurricanes.

More than two months after Hurricane Isaac, the west end of Dauphin Island was still closed on Tuesday as recovery continues. 

Still recovering...

At the end of August, Hurricane Isaac's storm surge completely washed over the west end of Dauphin Island, leaving it blanketed in sand and completely inaccessible.

"We ended up with about four feet of sand over Bienville Boulevard."

Dauphin Island Mayor Jeff Collier, veteran of many such clean-ups, knows what they're going through today in the northeast in the aftermath of Sandy.

"We feel for them," Collier told us. "We certainly know what they're going through, we've been through that a whole lot of times it's very unfortunate, but even though we're several months past the storm we are in the process of cleaning up, but things are going along quite well."

That said, a checkpoint is still in place. Much of the west end of the island is closed to the public. Mayor Collier said that's to limit traffic so work isn't slowed down.

"We immediately came in after Isaac and cleaned a lot of sand off the road to make it passable again and now it's the process of sifting the sand off the right-of-way, re-sloping, and reshaping the shoulder for drainage and things of that nature," the mayor said.

Collier stressed that much of the island is still open for business, including the entire east end and the main public beach.

Two months longer

Not much activity was going on Tuesday because the sand-sifting machine is broken.

Workers hope to have that up and running again soon, but even with the delay, Mayor Collier said they should have the project done around the beginning of next year.

Even though the Isaac recovery has taken months and will take a couple more, Dauphin Island business owner Don Rhodes has taken it all in stride.

"If you don't want to deal with [hurricanes], you don't need to be here, because you're just going to have it. That's the way it is," Rhodes said.

And after Sandy, quite a few more people are getting a taste of what this island lives with all the time.