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H-Town Rock
Rock Talk, Vol. IX
Houstonist recently kept you abreast of the “Humberto Incident”, where a low pressure system in the Gulf strengthened in less than 24 hours and slammed ashore, with sustainable wind gusts of 85 mph as a Category 1 hurricane, near High Island, causing power outages, localized flooding and wind damage. When storms give you little warning – the choice is already made for you to shelter in place. The media here is rife with preparedness information – Houstonist has a “hurricane box” of supplies – water, box wine, beer and a box of crackers. We jest, you should have well stocked hurricane box and a plan to protect the items you have that are irreplaceable, as this is serious business and we have all seen the aftermath.
Apparently, the “Florida Low” is predicted to move northwest and possibly miss Texas and go into Louisiana. There are some reasonable indications that this system could strengthen – perhaps not unlike Humberto, however, as we in Houston know all too well, the weather is some kind of fickle and these storms are the worst. The “cone of uncertainty” is a prime example of this. Our forecasters and the National Hurricane Center do the best they can, and it is much more accurate than years previous, but, it’s not an exact science. It's still not too late to prepare - even though fall weather is trying to sneak up on us, hurricane season will not officially end until November 30th.
Houston-based Cotton Companies is perhaps the nations leading provider of disaster recovery services, specializing in temporary replacement power, reconditioning smoke damaged areas and items, document recovery and, the more prominent post-storm issue - water control and remediation. Houstonist was extremely fortunate to have the opportunity to ask Executive Vice President James Scaife some questions with regard to hurricane remediation, in the wake of Humberto. Cotton Companies was on the scene as quickly as possible, assessing the level of damage and working efficiently to restore services and remediate any damages. They were also involved in the efforts following Hurricane Katrina, as well as the 9/11 tragedy. Cotton Companies does more than hurricane and natural disaster response. Here’s the link to their website, where you can access the full scope of the commercial and residential services they provide.
James Scaife, Executive Vice President/Marketing
Cotton Companies
Hurricane Humberto took the coastal area between High Island, Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana by surprise earlier this week, forming and strengthening very rapidly leaving over 110,000 people without power and with a big mess to clean up. How quickly can your teams mobilize?
We can mobilize within hours.
How many teams were mobilized or deployed for Humberto?
Most of the personnel came from our Port Neches offices but we also deployed project managers and operation personnel from our Houston office.
Do you enlist the services of local companies or individuals, if so, what are the qualifiers you look at to make these decisions?
No we don’t enlist outside companies.
Much of your companies efforts focus on the control and remediation of water and its damages. Your company has quite a reputation as a leader in this field. To what do you attribute your leading edge?
Having relationships and contracts in place prior to the storm and previous clients.
The Hurricane Katrina recovery in New Orleans has fallen under some criticism, mainly due to a lack of reconstruction of housing. Was the initial effort, based on the amazing amount of water in the area, one of your largest undertakings?
Hurricane Katrina was something that no one could have prepared for. It was a huge undertaking for Cotton where we deployed over 500 men and thousands of pieces of equipment. Cotton was involved in over 200 commercial restoration projects in New Orleans from Schools, Hospitals, Hotels, Retail Stores etc. It was an experience that you hope you never see again in your lifetime. New Orleans was devastated and to some extent still is today. We are proud to say that the projects we worked on are up and running today.
You provide residential restorative and recovery services, in addition to commercial or larger scale, “national disaster” type events. Should a local citizen find themselves flooded from an appliance malfunction or other such mishap, do you commonly provide services to remediate those types of situations?
Yes – we do provide residential services from our Houston and Port Neches offices but the other nine offices throughout the US provide primarily commercial services.
How many employees are located in your corporate headquarters, which are located in Northwest Houston? How many are employed nationwide?
Cotton has approximately 150 employees in Houston at the company’s corporate headquarters and approximately 300 Nationwide. We have offices in Houston, Port Neches, Austin, Dallas, Miami, Orlando, Atlanta, Chicago, Phoenix, Denver and Virginia.
In general, how do you prepare prior to hurricane season, and what additional tips or supplies do you feel Houstonians should take or have to protect valuables and irreplaceable belongings or be better prepared? For example, would purchasing a generator be considered more of an unnecessary extreme, or a good investment – at least among neighbors/friends?
We prepare every year for Hurricanes by conducting preparation meetings starting around March. In these meetings, we identify each individual’s role and review the necessary procedures in the event of a Hurricane. We generate an operational plan for Hurricanes that hit at home, on the East Coast, Gulf Coast and outside the Continental US. We then track these storms and begin our procedures at D-7, or seven days before the Hurricane is supposed to make landfall. I would tell people to have a plan as to where they are going to evacuate, if evacuation is necessary. I would also tell people to be sure to have a contact plan in place as well as appropriate storage for important personal belongings and essential survival items. As soon as a storm is detected, people should organize a game plan with their families. Also, people may wish to purchase a generator, which should be tested annually. In the event that evacuation is not necessary, be sure to have plenty of food, water and fuel.
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