Strong resolve and a disaster loan business rebuild after Katrina.

Ronald McRae never flees from humcanes. Having weathered many storms, McRae thought his manufactured home, at 13.5 feet above sea level, would be fine as Katrina bore down on the Alabama shore in August 2005.

Yet the storm that devastated the Gulf Coast was unlike any other, according to McRae, who saw floodwater rise to within inches of his door and floating debris threaten his home. A roof from a nearby

Dauphin Island home came within 100 feet of his porch.

"If you decide to stay, that's it," McRae, 70, says. "There's nothing to do after that."

As the night wore on and the water rose, he feared for his life and knew his fishing pier and home would be ruined. At daybreak, heavy winds turned the waves to mist, and he couldn't make out how much of the half-mile long Cedar Point Fishing Pier had survived.

"Katrina cleaned everybody's plow," he says.

When the storm was over, his worst fears were confirmed. The pier was gone, as well as a two-story building that had survived 22 years.

McRae found himself at a crossroads. Should he build again? Could he rebuild again?

He admits his stubborn will kept him in business. "It's hard for me to give up on anything."

Alter Katrina, his pier was closed until the following February. He recalls a turning point in his efforts came when a stranger came by and gave him $1,000 toward rebuilding.

McRae also credits the Small Business Administration's disaster-assistance program, where he had turned for a loan after Hurricane Ivan roared through in 2004.

Of SBA, McRae is effusive in his praise. "SBA was a blessing. I wouldn't have been able to build back after such a hit."

He said the difference in the amount of his SBA disaster-assistance loan, $807,900, compared to what he might have gotten at a bank, was incredible. "When it comes down to it, as much as people will say negative things about SBA, there are good success stories. Without SBA these last couple of years, I don't know if Cedar Point would be existing,'" he says.

The SBA has faced tremendous criticism over its slow response to the 2005 hurricanes. The agency says it was swamped by more than 420,000 disaster loan applications from homeowners and business owners. In addition to lacking staff on the ground, a new computer system compounded the trouble.

Since then, the agency has a new administrator, Stephen Preston, and has overhauled disaster-response plans and disaster-loan processing. It now assigns a case manager to a "customer" applying for a loan and has response teams with expertise in such areas as legal issues and financing available.

For McRae and his fishing pier, business is now booming. "Business was the best last year it has ever been," he says, with more than 35,000 people visiting the pier. That compares with 25,000 to 30,000 customers annually before the storm.

"We've had an influx of new people in the area. It's been a phenomenal ride and a phenomenal year."

McRae, who declined to disclose company revenue, charges adults $5 admission and $1 for children ages 6 to 10. And his operation offers other services, such as tackle rentals.

Susan Baxter, a business development specialist with the SBA's Birmingham, Ala., district office, says McRae's strong will and tenacity combined with luck to see him through the storm and his decision to rebuild.

"He lost everything," Baxter says. "'He had a lot to be thankful for because he didn't lose his life."

That determination has helped McRae deal with the changes in the pier business, too. At one time, insurance was available, but by the time Katrina hit, he was self-insured.

Yet, he remains committed to the pier, and coastal living.

Baxter says she's pleased an SBA loan translated into the revival of the pier. "I am really glad we were able to help him build back up. It made me feel good that we were able to help."

More than anything, McRae sees the pier as a public gathering place--sort of like a town square for a coastal city.

"It fills a need," he says. "We have very few rules; you can do about anything, as long as it doesn't infringe on the rights of someone else. We try to keep a good wholesome atmosphere all the time."

A FAMILY BUSINESS

Apier has existed on Cedar Point, near Dauphin Island, Ala., since the 1940s, says Roland McRae, the current owner. The Collier family ran it first, then the Moores. After Hurricane Frederic ravaged the area in 1979, the pier was closed until 1987.

Meanwhile, McRae was making his way from his native Mississippi to the Alabama coast.

A high-school dropout, he married young. When he was 21, his wife died, leaving him a widower with five children. Yet he went on to earn bachelor's and master's degrees on the G.I. Bill, even working toward a Ph.D. He later taught marketing at the University of Southern Mississippi, Mississippi College for Women and other schools.

He remarried, and his then-wife's work with the University of South Alabama brought them to the coast. That was when he became interested in running the pier.

"I first started on a shoestring budget in 1987. There had not been a pier there for almost 10 years. I started advertising a bit. By early 1988, I started letting people on. It was pretty slow (at first) and pretty challenging," he says.

Three sons are involved in the business, and he says he is still close with all of his offspring.

"Each sunset and sunrise is like a fingerprint," McRae says. "It's like a new one every cotton-pickin' day. It's beautiful."

Cedar Point Fishing Pier Inc. * Principal: Roland McRae * 18250 Dauphin Island Parkway, Coden, Ala. 36523 * [phone] Year founded: McRae's involvement dates to 1987 * Employees: 5 part-time * People on the pier in the last year: 35,000