Hurricane Dolly Affects Texas Timeshare Resorts
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Residents on South Padre Island, Texas are no strangers to what hurricanes can do, but like most people who live in hurricane country, they will tell you that “bad” hurricanes rarely happen in July. Hurricane Dolly, which hit South Padre Island with 100 mph winds last week, may have changed their opinions. It certainly caught many people unprepared. Some south Texas residents reported that they expected Hurricane Dolly to be only a “bad storm”… as it turns out, it was a very, very bad storm.
As of yesterday, many roads in the tourist resort and timeshare areas of South Padre Island, remained impassable; businesses were closed and areas were cut off by either floodwaters, lack of electricity, lack of gas, or all three.
According to the Houston Chronicle’s Chron.com, Dan Quandt, executive director of the island’s Convention and Visitors Bureau, said it was the first time he had ever urged people not to visit. Quandt was quoted as saying, “So many people are calling saying they want to come to the beach, and we’re saying, ‘No’. This is not a time to sightsee down here. We are actually going to have law enforcement at the causeway saying if you don’t have business being here, you’re going to have to turn around.”
The Inverness Resort Timeshare at South Padre Island has posted the following Hurricane Dolly update on their website:
“Friday, July 25, 2008: As of today’s assessment of the Inverness at South Padre Resort, the resort, will be closed for the next three weeks affecting the check-in dates of: July 26, August 2, and August 9, 2008. If you have a reservation for these three weeks at Inverness at South Padre you will need to make other arrangements due to this closure. So far the Review Team has discovered the laundry room is totally gone and visually you can see missing siding parts and broken glass around the building. There is still no water or electricity at the property or on the island. The Review Team is walking the property unit by unit, room by room checking each and every item from dishes to furniture and walls to carpet. This is a slow process and we may not know the total damage for a while.”
We have no updates on the Galleon Bay Club timeshare or the Royale Beach and Tennis Club timeshare, also located on South Padre Island.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office advised people to call 800-252-8011 to report unethical business practices or price gouging.
The San Padre Island Convention and Visitors Bureau has released these contact numbers for further information: (956) 433-1231 OR (956) 761-3802.
