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September 13, 2017 02:00 AM

Hurricane Harvey spurs flooding, closures — and volunteerism

Kathy McCarron
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    Transamerican Auto Parts
    Volumnteers help with rescue efforts after intense flooding from Hurricane Harvey.

    HOUSTON — Tire dealerships in the path of Hurricane Harvey and its torrential downpour in late August had to deal with flooded roadways, leaky roofs and temporary closures.

    Hurricane Harvey, which made landfall Aug. 25, proceeded to turn into a tropical storm that dumped nearly 52 inches of rain on Houston and the Texas Gulf Coast area, causing widespread flooding.

    During the height of the storm, some dealers and their employees joined other civilians in helping with rescue and relief efforts.

    • This story appeared in the Sept. 11 print edition of Tire Business.

    The Texas Tire Dealers & Retreaders Association said that its members survived the hurricane and flooding, noting that most businesses had to close for a few hours or days due to weather and flooded roads.

    Beaumont flooding

    After the storm hit Houston, it moved east along the Gulf Coast to Beaumont, Texas, where White Tire Supply Inc. was forced to close for nearly a week due to flooded roads.

    The hurricane dropped about 47 inches of rain in Beaumont over the course of five days, according to Tommy Reeves, owner of White Tire. "Every river and stream was multiple feet past flood stage. I think we had over 300 road closures....

    "In our area, we were trapped in. We couldn't leave. There was no way we could leave, and we couldn't get supplies in."

    As of Sept. 6, after the city's water supply was restored to houses and buildings, citizens still had to boil water for drinking, he said. Some neighborhoods were without power, as well.

    During the previous week, nearly all businesses were shut down; grocery stores would open and close sporadically depending on supply levels, Mr. Reeves said, and gasoline was scarce.

    Meanwhile, his dozen or so employees were unable to report to "We were flooded in place. You couldn't get out of your house. It was like you were in the middle of a lake," Mr. Reeves said, noting he helplessly watched flood waters rise within a few feet of his house as water flowed down his street like a river.

    Mr. Reeves said he was impressed with the volunteerism amid the crisis, noting that volunteer lines were sometimes as long as the lines for people in need, he said.

    "We had regular citizens, even with their own places devastated, they were taking their own boats and going out and rescuing people that had water in their homes, and the roads were all flooded and they couldn't get out any other way than by boat.

    "The government was overwhelmed; the emergency people were overwhelmed. There was no possible way they could pull people out, and the citizens stepped up," he said.

    White Tire employees also were involved in relief efforts.

    "We put our homes together, our business together, and we all served in the community in any capacity. My wife cooked for refugees at the church along with a whole lot of people. We did distribution of survival goods….

    "Our slogan has been Texas Strong, and people in Texas have a very entrepreneurial spirit. They really don't wait for anybody. They just dig in wherever it's needed," Mr. Reeves said.

    "It was family helping family, friends helping friends, strangers helping strangers. It basically gave you the sense that humanity is still alive and kicking."

    The retail tire dealership is located on high land so it didn't flood, but the roof was inundated with the heavy rainfall, so it leaked inside on the walls, he said.

    He talked to Tire Business on Sept. 6, the first day the store was back open, and he was cleaning up debris and assessing damage to the property and equipment, noting the business was partially functioning at the time.

    Houston

    Transamerican Auto Parts

    Craig Reitenour, assistant manager of 4 Wheel Parts location in Houston, helped organize volunteers in the area with high-clearance vehicles, along with his own 4x4 vehicle, to assist with the rescue operations.

    Central Tire Auto Care in southeast Houston suffered damage to its inventory as well as electrical equipment, such as tire changers, after heavy rain broke through the ceiling of the dealership. The half-foot of water that entered the building had receded a few days later, according to Manager Maria Juarez.

    She said homes just a mile down the road were flooded and, until Aug. 30, a couple of nearby highways were inaccessible.

    She said the dealership has been "trying to help as many people as we can" by offering flat repairs and used and new tires for as much as people could afford as they tried to evacuate their homes. Debris from the flooding has caused an increase in flat tires.

    Meanwhile, Montalbano Tire & Auto Service in Houston suffered minimal damage despite being located between two major bayous that had overflowed their banks. The dealership was closed for three days until most of its employees were able to arrive for work on Aug. 30.

    Owner Tony Montalbano said some nearby stores and dealerships still were closed.

    "It's just hit or miss what part of town folks are in," he said. For example, his house was undamaged, but his son had to evacuate his home.

    Mr. Montalbano said the dealership's roof leak during the storm wasn't as bad as the foot of water that flooded the store during Hurricane Allison in 2001. "This time we were spared," he said.

    On the first day back in operation, Montalbano Tire started the day with about five flat-tire repairs due to debris on the streets. He received some road service calls, but there were certain parts of town the service trucks couldn't reach due to flooded roadways.

    Transamerican Auto Parts President and CEO Greg Adler said employees and their families did not have to evacuate their homes, and many from the Houston-area 4 Wheel Parts stores were helping out with the rescue and recovery efforts.

    Craig Reitenour, assistant manager of 4 Wheel Parts Houston, was helping out with organizing those in the area with high-clearance vehicles, along with his own 4x4 truck, to assist with the rescue operations, the company said.

    Aftermath

    "We've been through a lot of hurricanes. This one was just different. We never got hit with this much water…," White Tire's Mr. Reeves said, recalling the dealership survived Hurricane Rita in 2005, Hurricane Ike in 2008 and several smaller storms.

    "We just trudge on, that's all you can do. It's a big important time for small businesses in general because the statistic is that after a major storm, normally it's expected that communities will lose 40 percent of their small businesses," Mr. Reeves said.

    "And so it's a real test because without income that long, with expenses as they are, it doesn't take long. The challenge for all small businesses, after a storm, is to keep going," he added.

    "We've been in business since 1938. In January we'll be in business 80 years, so we've seen a lot of storms," he said.

    In addition to the clean-up and rebuilding, a long-term impact of the flooding will be the replacement of thousands of vehicles that were flooded and rendered unsalvageable.

    "We expect a lot of totaled cars, which won't present us any business…," Mr. Reeves said.

    Mr. Montalbano received three calls for flooded cars when he reopened for business, "and we aren't set up for that. These cars, when they get water into the floor boards, they've already messed up the computers." Such cars are often totaled by the insurance adjusters, he said.

    About 40,000 vehicles were totaled in the 2001 flooding, he recalled.

    "Of course, what happens then, and we felt the brunt of that, cars we were going to do service on if they had stayed on the road or cars that needed tires that were going to stay on the road, they no longer stay on the road," Mr. Montalbano said.

    "So (customers) buy new cars and you start that cycle all over again. It's going to be a big hit for us mechanical-wise and tire-wise down the road. There's no doubt about it."

    Donations

    Several tire and automotive aftermarket companies have announced donations to help Hurricane Harvey victims:

    Discount Tire/America's Tire said as of Sept. 5 the Diane and Bruce Halle Foundation had generated $100,000 in donations to help its employees affected by Hurricane Harvey. The foundation also raised $4,000, as of Aug. 31, through PayPal donations. The company said its corporate office also is hosting fundraisers, and all proceeds will be donated to the foundation to help Texas employees.

    The Automotive Parts Services Group (The Group) and Auto Care Association (ACA) made donations of $20,000 and $10,000, respectively, to the Automotive Aftermarket Charitable Foundation (AACF) to help auto care industry members impacted by Hurricane Harvey. Both parties are encouraging others to make donations at www.aacfi.org.

    Tire Profiles L.L.C. said it would donate $300 for every sale of its Treadspec tire and alignment diagnostic equipment and $100 for every sale of its GrooveGlove mobile tire diagnostics to the American Red Cross to support the relief efforts in Houston and surrounding areas.

     

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