Lamar Professor Finds Beach Cabin Half a Mile Away

A Lamar professor was amazed by what she found when she returned to the Bolivar Peninsula last week to check on her beach cabin.

Unlike many of the cabins in her neighborhood, Cissie Owen's beach home was still in one piece, but it wasn't where she expected to be.

Cissie Owen has to walk through a field, and over roofs, to get to her beach home.

"A neighbor found it Friday and called and sent a picture on my phone. That was a surprise," says Owen.

A surprise to find her cabin more than half a mile away from its piers and across Highway 87. Hurricane Ike's surge swept it away, it settled in a field filled with debris.

"I think the cabin was 8 feet high. About 4 feet of water got inside, see the water line here too," says Owen.

Once she got inside her cabin she found damaged furniture and mud.

"Everything's here. The picture's still hanging on the wall, flyswatter's on the wall. Stuff in cabinets untouched. It's just amazing," says Owen.

And outside the house she found a trophy, she just doesn't know who it belongs to.

This is where the cabin stood on Butterfly Street. One side of her neighborhood still stands, and the other looks barren.

Owen says she will take her experience back to Lamar, and teach her students how unpredictable natural disasters can be.

"Freak of nature. I mean why does one house get destroyed and another one is just fine and standing. Just something happens and it's just the way things are," says Owen.

Owen says she will not rebuild, but she's happy she has memories of the beach

"Fiesty little cabin just didn't give up," says Owen.

And one that landed right side up.

Owen has insurance and hopes to collect for her losses.