September 2008 - yIKEs! - Hurricane Ike Update

September 30, 2008
Hurricane Ike was so large that virtually all of our offices were affected in some way. The Lake Charles yard received heavy rain, 70 mph winds and had only slight damage to the roof (loose shingles). Our Beaumont yard was surrounded by water, accessible only by wading in through knee deep water the day after the storm, but was high and dry with no damage. The power was off for 10 days. The highest wind gusts in the Mid County area were in excess of 90 mph, so we did really well.

Our corporate office was unscathed, operated for on few days on generator power. The Deer Park yard reported no damage, although the customary high water did occur (but no flooding into buildings). Both locations probably experienced 100 mph winds. The Texas City yard takes the prize for damage…the roof simply blew off. Power remains off (its September 30) and clean up continues. We are "semi-operational" there, using generator power, cell phones, portable laptops, hand signals…whatever it takes. That location received the maximum the storm had to offer in terms of wind and storm surge.

We are operating every branch and very busy with helping our customers from Hurricane recovery to daily work and planned turnarounds.