Businesses in New Orleans Prepare for Gustav

The nightmare hurricane Katrina brought in New Orleans had been resurrected as Gustav approached the bustling but still recovering city.

The difference this time is that local businesses have learned their lessons well and they are preparing early for the hurricane’s landfall.

Early Emergency Preparations

Iggie Perrin, president of Southern Electronics, said that the chaos brought about by Katrina was beyond their control but they have implemented measures to avoid post-hurricane confusions.  

Southern electronics was hit hard by Katrina as its headquarters was inundated by floodwaters and its buildings were destroyed.  Looters also took away inventories worth hundreds of thousands of dollars while employees fled as they rushed to leave the beleaguered city.

As Gustav approaches, employees will likely flee again but Southern Electronics have emergency preparations this time to avoid a chaotic post-hurricane scenario.  Perrin said that they have gathered the contact information of their employees and the management team will be closely communicating with them.

Other corporate measures also include relocation of certain company functions to its Dallas offices such as purchasing and other departments.  The central management on the other hand will stay at their Baton Rouge offices to ride out the storm.  Evacuation will also include the transport of office equipments and important receipts and documents.

Perrin on Thursday said that their company is gearing up for their stage two preparations.  They are moving everything to their upper floors to keep them off the flood waters.  They are also reinforcing their buildings making sure that anything that can be easily blown away by gusting winds will be fastened.

Temporary Work Stoppage

Renaissance Publishing on the other hand has a different kind of preparation.  After Katrina struck, they were left with printed magazines that have no distribution channels.  That’s because the publications could not go anywhere but sit on its printing offices.

As a safety precaution, Renaissance ordered its presses to stop publishing until after the effects of hurricane Gustav clears out.  They want to ensure that their magazines could be distributed to different channels to avoid having excess copies.

Renaissance also collected contact information from their employees to ensure close management and employee communications during and after the storm.  They also released an early payroll.  This is to help employees cope with the coming storm as they will obviously need money in times of emergencies.

Like Southern Electronics, Renaissance also instructed their employees to evacuate together with their equipments such as laptops, desktop computers, and other things.  

Both Renaissance and Southern Electronics also ensured that their insurance policies and its papers are safe and on hand.  After Katrina, these companies experienced delayed insurance processing due to lost insurance policies.  They have to wait weeks before they can make their claims thus delaying rebuilding efforts.