Recovering from Ike
With the 2009 hurricane season upon us, ACC member companies’ facilities are again taking precautions to ensure the safety of their employees and communities. Under Responsible Care®, they have established emergency preparedness plans and disaster procedures. They have also learned from past experiences.
In 2008, for example, the most intense storm of the Atlantic hurricane season—and the third most destructive hurricane to ever hit the U.S.—was Hurricane Ike. While this Category 4 hurricane was downgraded to Category 2 by the time it made landfall at Galveston, Texas, it nevertheless caused billions of dollars in damage to both coastal and inland areas.
A declaration of emergency was made for Texas on September 10, 2008, three days before Ike would land at Galveston. ACC member companies in the area responded
accordingly. The following are just a few examples of the measures they took.
Dow
On September 11, 2008, Dow’s manufacturing sites in the Freeport and Galveston areas implemented their hurricane preparedness plans to shut down operations. Other affected Dow sites in Texas included those in Clear Lake, LaPorte, Texas City, and Seadrift. All of these were safely shut down before Ike made landfall.
Dow remained in continuous communication with local authorities to ensure their plans and actions were consistent with each other. Employees were encouraged to take
appropriate precautions, stay in regular communication with supervisors, and adhere to any mandatory evacuations.
On September 18, after the storm had passed, Dow began start-up operations for its manufacturing sites along the Texas Gulf Coast, each taking several weeks to complete. The company donated $700,000 to help local and state governments respond to the widespread disruptions and damage.
Dow also directed $500,000 to the Texas Disaster Relief Fund, assisting the site communities; $150,000 collectively to United Way chapters in Brazoria, Galveston, and Harris Counties for local relief efforts; and $25,000 each to the Greater Houston and Galveston chapters of the Red Cross for community support.
BASF
Immediately following the storm, permanent and contract employees alike at BASF’s site in Port Arthur, Texas, were polled and assessments were made to determine the level of assistance each employee needed.
Those who were minimally affected assisted those whose homes had suffered the most significant impact, helping them empty their homes and start the demolition process. Other employees’ homes that were water-damaged were given access to free dehumidifiers and generators to begin drying them. In any case where a home was uninhabitable, the employee was issued a disaster recovery trailer. And for more modest recovery efforts, BASF provided cleaning supplies.
Financial assistance also followed the storm. BASF offered interest-free loans to help qualifying employees cover gaps between necessary cash outlays and insurance reimbursements. The company provided an insurance consultant to assist employees filing claims and answer any questions about losses and the claims process. Government officials were also brought to the BASF site to meet employees and help them through the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) filing process.
Another BASF site in Freeport, Texas, offered hot meals, meal vouchers, laundry service and movie theater tickets to employees and their families without power. Up to five gallons of water and two bags of ice were provided per family per day, along with five gallons of fuel.
Hotel rooms were made available based on the degree of need. Employees and their families were also welcome to stay in BASF’s offices or designated conference rooms, with cots and sleeping bags provided.
The Port Arthur site extended further outreach to the community. Surplus furniture was provided to municipal chambers for distribution to affected local businesses. A donation of approximately $15,000 worth of dust masks, gloves, and other protective equipment was targeted at helping volunteers remove debris from damaged homes.
Bunkhouse trailers with showers and beds were provided for emergency responders, along with two for police officers who had lost their homes in the storm. BASF also donated $15,000 to rent a building for temporary police and emergency operations while a severely damaged facility was being replaced.
BASF’s Petrochemicals Business offered a grant of $50,000 to the Bridge City Independent School District to help rebuild its classrooms, along with $20,000 to purchase books.
The Food Bank of Southeast Texas was given $15,000 to purchase a trailer of non-perishable foods, which provided some 31,500 meals.
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| ExxonMobil’s chemical plant in Beaumont, Texas, was indundated by Hurricane Ike’s floods, which caused water levels to rise by more than 10 feet in some areas. |
Thanks to preparation and response planning, the company was able to return the majority of its operations to normal business within 10 days of landfall, though its chemical plant in Beaumont, Texas, suffered significant flooding that delayed its restart.
ExxonMobil’s global real estate and facilities unit coordinated the inspection of more than 9,000 offices and workstations in the Houston area within five days of landfall, assessing any damage and initiating repairs to ensure they were safe for staff to return to work. In the early recovery phase, almost 500 alternative work locations were provided for employees. Distributor locations used extra generators until power from the grid was restored.
In the aftermath of both Hurricanes Ike and Gustav, ExxonMobil donated $6.5 million for disaster relief assistance in U.S. communities along the Gulf Coast.
With files from Dow, BASF, and ExxonMobil.