(September 22, 2008)

PORT ARANSAS--We've had several reports lately about all the hurricane-related debris coming ashore on Padre Island. For the first time, the Port Aransas shoreline is starting to see much of the same thing.

Just two days ago, town leaders said the beaches looked beautiful, but starting late last night, debris started showing up and now the clean up has started.

An old abandoned boat washed ashore in Port Aransas, believed to be from the Galveston area and damage from Hurricane Ike. It was just one of several items, including a refrigerator, a part of a pier and parts of a patio set that washed on shore.

"I think it's amazing," said Nancy Scorzafava, who was visiting Port Aransas. "You can tell the destruction that must have gone on there that far away to be bringing up piers and refrigerators."

"We've seen people come out and picking up odds and ends along the beach that they think is a treasure," said Joe Scorzafava, a tourists. 

"Just something to show the family what's going on down here," said John Scott, a tourist visiting Port Aransas. "All the damage. This window over here. It's kind of amazing it's this far south."

City workers picked up things deemed hazardous, including oil and paint cans, along the shoreline. In some cases, they had no earthly idea what they had found?

"Some of it we don't even want to open because we don't what's inside there," said Pat McKeever, a city worker for Port Aransas. "Some of the labels are off. It could be shampoo or could be something worse?

"The second thing we want to go after is the puncture hazard or the things that would impact human interaction, so we're getting all those things broken glass and getting those things away so people can use the beach again," said Michael Kovacs, who is the Port Aransas City Manager. 

Town leaders said the seven-mile shoreline in Port Aransas will look like this for another week or so. 

--Manuel De La Rosa, Area 3 News, mdelarosa@kiiitv,cin