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January 15, 2019 01:00 AM

YEAR IN REVIEW: Dealers survive effects of hurricanes

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    While hurricanes this past year failed to cause severe damage as Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria did in 2017, the tire industry still had to grapple with several natural disasters in 2018.

    Tire dealers and manufacturers in some parts of Virginia and North Carolina faced the wrath of Hurricane Florence, which caused massive flooding.

    Here's how John Allen of Hughes Bros. Inc. in Wilmington, N.C., described the aftermath of the mid-September disaster: "This town looks like a bomb went off."

    One of Mr. Allen's two tire stores in Wilmington lost part of its roof during the storm and suffered water damage. The shop was closed for eight days as employees tried to dry out and clean up the facilities; the other store wasn't damaged but was closed for three days due to power outages.

    Hughes Bros. was one of the unlucky dealerships in the hurricane's path. Fortunately, several tire dealerships contacted by Tire Business reported minimal or no damage due to being located away from the flooding rivers or on high ground.

    Black's Tire Service, which operates more than 45 stores in North and South Carolina, said eight of its stores in North Carolina suffered structural damage during the storm and some were flooded.

    "We were right in the path of the storm," Rick Benton, vice president of Black's Tire, said of the dealership's four stores in Wilmington, two in Jacksonville, north of Wilmington, and one each in New Bern and Lumberton.

    "We're not even in flood zones," Mr. Benton said, noting that this storm was "absolutely worse" than the flooding from Hurricane Matthew two years ago.

    Several tire manufacturers and large tire chains survived the hurricane and subsequent flooding.

    Flood waters inundate Bladenboro, N.C., after Hurricane Florence hit the state in mid-September.

    Nearly all in the affected areas were slammed with flat tire repairs traced primarily to roofing nails from shingles blown off houses and buildings in their areas.

    Meanwhile, dealerships in Puerto Rico, leveled by Hurricane Maria on Sept. 20, 2017, were still struggling to get back to normal last year.

    Josue Correa, president of Correa Tire Distributors in San Juan, said a boon in business had been offset by frustrations over delayed product deliveries, unreliable electric service and stalled scrap tire disposal.

    High winds and rains damaged buildings and equipment, forcing some small tire shops to shutter permanently. Others were operating but still waiting for insurance money to make repairs.

    "It's a different Puerto Rico," said Primo J. Delgado, owner and president of World Wide Tires Inc., a tire retailer and wholesaler.

    "We lost long-time shops, mom-and-pop tire shops. They closed down, never to open again.

    "There are a lot of small businesses down on the island that just went away and some of them they just closed because they didn't have any power and they moved to the states."

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    Do you have an opinion about this story? Do you have some thoughts you'd like to share with our readers? Tire Business would love to hear from you. Email your letter to Editor Don Detore at [email protected].

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      • OPINION
      • BUSINESS/FINANCIAL
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      • Humanitarian Award
      • RETAIL TIRES
      • SERVICE ZONE
      • TIRE MAKERS
      • Best Places to Work
      • RUSSIA WAR IN UKRAINE
    • Aligning with ADAS
    • Data
      • DATA STORE
    • Custom
      • SPONSORED CONTENT
    • Events
      • ASK THE EXPERT
      • LIVESTREAMS
      • WEBINARS
      • SEMA LIVESTREAMS
    • Resources
      • DIRECTORY
      • CLASSIFIEDS
      • SHOP FLOOR
        • BALANCING
        • DEMOUNTING
        • SAFETY
        • TIRE REPAIR
        • TPMS
        • TRAINING
        • VEHICLE LIFTING
        • WHEEL TORQUE
      • AWARDS
        • Best Places to Work
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