Hopefully, this helps paint the picture.
I have a house in Treasure Island, and have been down there twice since the storm. It is not an easy trip, and not only are you forced to drive on the beach for about a mile or more, it involves driving through the guts with about 18" of water on a normal tide. Can't wait to see the residual damage to my truck. Ernie's first floor is gone, but the plane survived. The beach access across the road next to the condos is about 6' deep and filled with water, rocks, and concrete. The damage to the homes along the entire island is significant, and without an exact number, there are many that have been washed out to sea. Bright Light's bait tanks have been washed away, but other than that, Don said he did have much damage to the store. He is slowly locating his tanks at various places along the coast. One email came to the residents of TI where a group of college students found one of the signs to Treasure Island while doing research on South Padre Island. My neighbor got a call from the Coast Guard---"we found your boat on the beach in Corpus Christi"
The only way to verbally describe the damage is "unbelievable and sad"