Hurricane Response Tips are offered by surviving businesses.
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Press Release Summary:
Appearing in Welding and Gases Today Online, "Six Lessons From Hurricane Katrina" revisits GAWDA distributors who were hit hardest by storms of 2005 to relay lessons they learned in their aftermaths. Topics address companies facing problems such as population shifts due to evacuee relocation, inventory damaged by flooding, and possibility of such disasters happening again. Specific examples include distributors facing water- and communications-related challenges.
Original Press Release:
Businesses Offer Hurricane Response Tips In Welding & Gases Today
Gases and welding distributors share advice on preparing for and responding to Hurricane Irene.
Dewitt, NY: With Hurricane Irene bearing down on the East Coast, many business owners are thinking back to the devastation of Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma in 2005. Welding & Gases Today revisited the GAWDA distributors hit hardest by the storms of 2005 to relay the lessons they learned in the aftermath of Katrina. "Six Lessons From Hurricane Katrina" appears on Welding & Gases Today Online, the online home of the leading magazine for the gases and welding equipment industry.
In 2005, faced with shifts in population due to evacuee relocation, inventory damaged by flooding and the looming question of whether it would happen again, companies on the Gulf Coast modified and updated the way they run their businesses. WESCO (Prichard, AL) came out of Katrina virtually unharmed, but with a lesson in the power of water. "The water was something we weren't used to," President Jenny McCall says. "We were used to dealing with strong hurricane winds." Although the water surprised them, McCall says they learned quickly to handle it. "You have to put everything up high and anticipate flooding on your bottom floor," she says.
Industrial Welding Supply in Baton Rouge, Louisiana (now Gas and Supply), lost the use of its phone and the Internet because its provider's line ran through the middle of New Orleans. Despite communication challenges, the company was fortunate enough to have employees with the ability to quickly put together an Internet site where people could check in with their whereabouts. "During the storm, we depended on word of mouth to spread the news about the website, but now it's part of our corporate manual," says Marty Kearns, CEO.
To view the lessons shared by gases and welding distributors for Hurricane Irene, read "Six Lessons From Hurricane Katrina" (http://www.weldingandgasestoday.org/index.php/2011/08/six-lessons-from-hurricane-katrina/) at Welding & Gases Today Online. For more information, contact Devin O'Toole, content editor at Welding & Gases Today at devin@weldingandgasestoday.org or 315-445-2347.
About GAWDA
Founded in 1945, the Gases and Welding Distributors Association (GAWDA) is the premier source for manufacturing knowledge, education and networking. Through its member journals (www.weldingandgasestoday.org), e-magazines, newsletters and industry wiki (www.gawdawiki.org), GAWDA connects suppliers of gases and manufacturers of related equipment as well as manufacturers of welding equipment and distribution leaders, for the purpose of safely delivering optimal solutions to the users of those products. GAWDA publications are the industry's voice for all matters related to the latest technology and the most up-to-date processes spanning welding equipment and products and services related to industrial, medical, specialty and cryogenic gases. A 501(c)3 organization, GAWDA members are located throughout North America.
