100 Days, the Cost of Disaster

This is a summer like none other along Alabama's coastline. Beaches that should be bustling have been mostly vacant. So far tourism numbers prove it according to Herb Malone, President of the Gulf Coast Convention and Visitors Bureau. "Baldwin County brings in 2.3 billion dollars a year, normal years and about 1.7 of that happens between Memorial day and Labor day. It appears we are going to be down about half that amount. So do the math and it looks like we're looking at a 700 to 800 million dollar loss ."
June figures show business off 50 percent. Expectations are July figures will be down 50 to 60 percent. "Moving forward to the rest of the year we're looking at declines in the 70 percent range," says Malone.
"When your churches donations are down that is a pretty good indicator that things aren't good." For Orange Beach Mayor Tony Kennon things haven't been good for the last 100 days. "We put in a two million dollar claim. 1.5 is for lost revenues another half a million for time expenses for our staff and they've paid us, out of two million dollar claim, 128 thousand dollars".
There is little hope the next one hundred days will be much different says Kennon. "It's groundhog day for us. Everyday you get up it's the same thing. You don't know the difference because it's the same battle."
A summer that was so full of promise now needs a promise to be kept.
"We're counting on BP and Mr. Fienberg and others, as they promised, to make us whole. Make our people whole. We're counting on that. We're going to need it for survival."