When Hurricane Harvey hit south Texas in August, dumping nearly 50 inches of rain on some parts of the Greater Houston area, many in Louisiana’s industrial sector predicted the kind of impact from the storm Louisiana experienced after hurricanes Katrina and Gustav, namely supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, wage spikes and price increases.
But three months after the historic flood, local industry executives with operations in south Texas say, surprisingly, it’s business as usual in the Lone Star State.
“The post hurricane effect we’ve all come to know here in Louisiana didn’t happen,” says Stephen Toups, executive vice president of Turner Industries. “Clearly, a lot of people there are still suffering and there are neighborhoods that were devastated. But in terms of business there wasn’t any interruption. Everybody is rocking and rolling.”
While Toups’ experience may be anecdotal, Louisiana Chemical Association President Greg Bowser says it’s not far off the mark. In conference calls with industry executives along the Gulf Coast, the issue of Texas and its hurricane recovery doesn’t even come up any more, which indicates the extent to which life in the industrial sector is back to normal, he says.
“Nobody has even talked about it since mid-October,” he says. “I think with maybe the exception of one or two plants, everyone is back online.”
What accounts for the swift recovery?
Toups and Bowser cannot say for sure. But they believe lessons learned from previous disasters like Gustav and Katrina factored into Texas’ ability to bounce back so quickly.
“I think people along the Gulf Coast are better prepared today than they were 10 years ago,” Toups says. “They take these storms seriously now. They don’t mess around.”
—Stephanie Riegel
