Boat cleanup after Nate

As cleanup continues across South Mississippi, a few boats remain washed up along Bayou Bernard.
News 25’s Payton Malone takes us there and also checks in with the Department of Marine Resources for the latest.
While the Wilkes Bridge in Gulfport and other drawbridges were busy in the days leading up to Hurricane Nate’s arrival in South Mississippi, there was an eerie calm in the hours leading up to the category one storm, especially in places where boat owners docked their vessels in what they hoped would be a safe harbor.
Bayou Bernard is often a popular destination for boats to come to take safe harbor during a storm, but even this inland stretch of water couldn’t protect the vessels from the storm surge and wind Nate brought to the area. Melissa Scallan with DMR said, “We realize that after a storm like this one there is damage and that people have to take care of and there are boats in a lot of places where you normally don’t see boats so we’re hopeful that the owners will retrieve them on their own.
Leaders with the Department of Marine Resources say they understand it may take some time to get the boats back to where they belong and they are willing to lend a helping hand. “If someone has a boat on their property that is not theirs, they should call us and let us at least, if they don’t know who the owner is, we may be able to help them find out who the owner is,” said Scallan.
While the boats near Wilkes Bridge apparently fared okay, a few boats in Bayou Bernard did not do so well. The hope now is that all these boats will make it back to their home port sooner rather than later and full speed ahead whether for business or pleasure.