The US hurricane season runs from June to October and Houston team is accustomed to the preparation requirements and excitement the season can bring. The 2024 hurricane season cooked up an early surprise for Texas and the ITG team proved ready for the challenge! A strong storm procedure with clear lines of communication is essential for any business to be ready to recover and assist with rebuilding efforts. As experience would show, preparation is key!
Hurricane Beryl barreled through Houston with severe impacts:
- More than 2 million homes and businesses were left without power in Texas with over $2.5 billion in storm-related damage reported.
- The highest wind gusts reported in Houston were 107 mph.
- From June 28 – July 11th, 33 fatalities were reported across the US, Caribbean, and Venezuela, as well as 110 tornado warnings issued across multiple US states. The impacts of the storm were felt as far as New York and Quebec.
As soon as the storm passed, the ITG team began to mobilize. Safety was the number one priority. The power outage situation made communication difficult and cellular service was crippled. Transportation within the city was also severely impacted due to fallen trees and extensive line damage. Through the use of mobile applications such as WhatsApp and Microsoft Teams, the ITG team was able to identify who had power and internet connectivity from the Operations and Sales team. We discovered the entire staff was without power and two team members, Sergio Sanchez from Operations and Marlen Hernandez from Customer Service, had homes damaged by fallen trees, forcing them to evacuate.
In less than 24 hours, two team members, Customer Service Team Leader Felipe Zaghetto and Operations Outbound Specialist Emily Steglich were able to resume business from their homes. Communication with the Houston warehouse team had been established by Staci Cole. Janet Smith and the LAPP family were also placed on reserve for additional support. By Wednesday morning, two more members of the Houston team were able to connect due to power and internet restoration, Mina Flajc and Andres Garcia-Villareal. These four members were critical in representing PPC, establishing communication with the regional sales managers and rep agencies affected by Hurricane Beryl, as well as the entire distribution network to assess storm recovery needs.
The remainder of the ITG team relocated to the homes of friends, and family, some driving 4 hours out of the city to set up shop. By Thursday the entire Houston team was back online and fully operational though more than half of the staff was displaced. The ease with which the team put their own difficult situations aside to focus on the needs of the city was nothing short of remarkable. The recovery efforts were a clear priority for the team. They had a job to do and a city relying on them to perform.
Marlen Hernandez from Customer Service and Regional Sales Manager Doug Perkins received the first emergency recovery orders at 7:30 AM on July 11th. The orders called for nearly 18,000 distribution insulators, 7 full truckloads, that needed to be pulled and delivered the same day.
Coordinating this task was not easy, considering more than half of Houston, including the DSV facility, had no electricity, or internet connectivity, and suffered from localized flooding. Calls and hand delivered documents were orchestrated between Staci Cole and the DSV team to mobilize and pull the orders manually. Within 10 hours the storm material orders issued by the major utility in Houston, CenterPoint Energy, were received and processed. By working with each other using creative, sometimes unconventional methods, all 7 loads were delivered successfully to Irby Utilities/CenterPoint Energy’s designated staging location before 7 PM. Despite the challenges, the ITG, DSV, and Evans Transport teams performed admirably.
“Irby Utilities and PPC Insulators have had a successful partnership for several years. With the recent storm event in the Houston area from Hurricane Beryl, PPC Insulators stepped up when we really needed their support. PPC maintains stock for Irby locally for daily routine usage and storm stock for uncertain events as just encountered, and they were quick to respond to our critical storm needs for insulators and ensured material was delivered in very short timeframe. Irby would like to express our gratitude to PPC Insulators and Tyler Chapman and Laurie Ford with Utility Sales of South Texas for their support and assistance during the recent storm relief efforts.” – Chandra Miller, Alliance Manager for Irby Utilities.
The ITG team is proud to be a part of the recovery efforts for the city of Houston and surrounding communities. Having a strong storm plan, a determined, resourceful, dedicated team, strong rep agency and customer partnerships, and a versatile, responsive distribution network is essential to ensure ITG will continue to be ready to support any customer during their greatest time of need.
