The hurricane that never was

The title is (intentionally) provocative but, perhaps because I was in the path of hurricane Rita, it’s rather annoying to see large news outlets withdraw their coverage as if everything was well now.

Browsing most headlines you would hardly know that Rita ever happened. In a couple of days it will be forgotten.

Well, it’s not quite over yet. There are still many thousands of people under distress in large areas around Houston. Many are crowding the hotels to give their families shelter from the oppressive heat and the lack of electricity.

I know for a fact that the brave people living in a large area (perhaps 100 miles radius) North East of Houston have been without electricity since Friday when the hurricane hit. It’s still unclear when the power will be restored.

We’ll probably never hear all their stories, but here is one that won’t go unnoticed, I hope.

Hi Mario,

I just wanted to send this to you as FYI. It’s a great chronicle of how one Houston company, SimDesk, dealt with Hurricane Rita.

Blanc & Otus

Thank you, Jack for sending the store. Here it goes.

Riding out a hurricane vicariously through e-mail

By Kevin Maney

USA Today

Sept. 28, 2005

As Hurricane Rita fizzled, Houston-based tech company SimDesk assessed the damage it suffered.

The executive vice president gained a few pounds from eating too many Little Debbie cakes. The vice chairman’s prized potted trees had blown into his pool. And that’s pretty much the worst of it.

But then again, the past week has been arduous and emotional for Executive Vice President Wendy Haig, Vice Chairman Ray Davis and others at SimDesk, a Web-based service that lets users access their files on any device anywhere. (SimDesk has 128 employees.)

They stayed in Houston and felt the dread of waiting for a powerful hurricane. They worked to keep the company’s services running globally even as the local communications fabric broke down. No doubt a lot of Houston companies went through the same ordeal.

Haig, who lives near Washington, D.C., but spends about half her time in Houston, had traveled to SimDesk’s offices in downtown Houston. On Friday, she couldn’t get back out. I’ve known Haig through business for years. Curious to find out what companies go through in these situations, I asked her, Davis and CEO Lou Waters to e-mail me dispatches as best they could as Rita bore down.

The messages started with Haig flipping out over the lack of cellphone service.

From Haig, Friday, 1:22 p.m.Houston time:

“The cell service is absolutely horrid. Tons of all circuits are busy. Lots of outright busy signals. I can’t reach my kids via cell even though they are less than 30 miles away. (Her twin sons rode out the storm at Rice University in Houston, where they are students.) I have to e-mail them or drop messages into a shared folder (on the Internet). VERY FRUSTRATING. Even land lines are having issues periodically. Text messaging seems more reliable.

“Yesterday was the twins’ birthday. Nothing was open, not even McDonald’s. We saw an open sub shop, so we went there. Our celebration was over a 6-inch sub in the car, and since gas is now a precious commodity, I couldn’t put the air conditioning on.”

From Haig, 2:46 p.m., about why she stayed in Houston until it was too late to get out. She wound up at Davis’ house, 20 minutes north of Houston:

“I was in the InterContinental Hotel (in downtown Houston) since Monday. On Wednesday night, they told us we would have to leave by noon on Friday. After lengthy begging, we were told that if we had nowhere to go we could stay and be moved to their ballroom.

“On Thursday morning we were told that we had to be out by noon. We went online for hotels all over the state and into Louisiana nothing anywhere. I called Ray, and he and his wife, Debi, opened their home to me and one other colleague. We got into the car, watching our gas and the dead-stop highways around us and began to travel the 20-minute trip to Ray’s.

“Our office has staff there today getting everything off the ground in case of flooding. Getting darker now. Most of our company employees are out of the area many taking 10 hours and more to get anywhere, some turning around and coming back because the traffic is so bad and they are running out of gas.”

From Haig, Friday, 7:31 p.m., after she and colleague Duane Ford drove around to try to find gas and supplies:

“Duane drove, which was a good thing. He was far better able to avoid the metal sign that came flying at us than I ever could have! We saw a few Vietnamese markets and a couple Latino ones open. Nowhere else was open. Have they not heard the news over the past many days? Are they trying to sell their perishables rather than have the waste that may follow?

“Lights are flickering and they are saying on the news to expect power failures here for two weeks following the storm.”

From Davis, at his home, Friday, 9:03 p.m.:

“I am a native Houstonian so I’ve seen hurricanes and tornadoes many times. As a child I watched my three cats fly away sucked up into a twister that literally came down our street. It must have scarred me for life because I haven’t gotten another pet since.

“As far as the company goes, I am sure all will be fine. The offices are in a free-standing one-story concrete building (the roof might leak or fall in but not the walls). The network was taken down last night, and the computers were taken off the floors and put on desks. When we get back, we simply start it up again if the building is there.

“The data center is located closer in town and is raised and has diesel backup for power. We also have multiple carriers for Internet connections. If the data center should fail, it will switch to the redundant site within 45 seconds, so no one will notice.”

From Haig, Friday, 10:13 p.m.:

“I think I will gain weight from all this. I’m eating things I haven’t even seen in years root beer, Sno Balls, Sara Lee, every Little Debbie product you have ever seen.

“Worried about the twins. I know intellectually they are fine, but I can’t reach them by cell, and they have not e-mailed or IM’d me. They probably found a keg!”

From Waters, who had tried to get back into Houston from a business trip while everyone else was leaving. Friday, 11:22 p.m.:

“I was due back to Houston Thursday morning. By that time, the congested roads and lack of gas were well known, and it appeared that I wouldn’t be able to get across town to my house even if I did get into the airport. My wife and children had left town early the day before, so I diverted through Dallas and down to San Antonio (where he owns a ranch) to join them.

“We are supporting customers and working on deals in the U.S., Latin America, Europe and Asia Pacific, so for us it’s business as usual. We’re working across the Internet with little disruption. Cellphones have been a real pain.

“(Once the storm passes) we may hang back a little and work remotely to let the roads clear and let our technical operations get our building back in order.”

Haig, Saturday, 10:21 a.m. The storm was down to a Category 2 and largely spared Houston:

“It has not been bad at all. The bad part was the anticipation. Some heavy (potted trees) belonging to Ray and Debi are now in their pool; the fence is blown over, and there is debris what you would expect of a rich man’s storm experience.

“On the negative side we learned that (the country is) not prepared. If we had been attacked in some way, the highways would have been death traps. Cell service is not reliable or consistent. Can’t count on being able to get money. ATMs run out and banks close. Gas stations can sell cigarettes but not gas.”

Davis, Saturday, 3:46 p.m.:

“Everything went fine here! We had winds up to 60 mph with some gusts to 75 out here where I live. The power went off and on all night, but for the most part it was on and still is.

“Most (employees) have checked in through SimDesk. Many of them left their homes, so I worry a little about them getting home safely. SimDesk’s data center stayed up 100%, as did the redundant site. No big achievement there because we’ve had local storms bigger than Rita in the past.

“Operations personnel have checked the building, and there were no problems with the structure or water. The only thing missing was all of the bottled water and free vending supplies. I guess the developers will have to program without sugar or caffeine Monday!”

Waters, Saturday, 3:53 p.m.:

“Our services have held up fine throughout, and this morning I was working on projects in the northeast U.S. and in Japan. Cell service has been getting a little better, but we’re still operating mainly on e-mail and shared info.

“Roads are already snarled trying to get back to Houston. The highways in from Austin were at a standstill by midmorning. I am going to stay at my ranch for a couple of days until things settle.”

Haig, Saturday, 4:24 p.m.:

“We left Ray and Debi’s to head back to the InterContinental. They are letting us in, assuming we can get there. The kids are at Rice, and we were able to speak by cellphone earlier. Downtown Houston is a ghost city.”

Davis, Monday, 10:22 a.m.:

“Everything is almost back to normal here. Traffic is not bad, but gas is still hard to find. Open restaurants and stores are also very hard to find. Those that can open have a limited menu and have very little on the shelves. There are about 30% of the people coming back today. Everyone has been accounted for, but they are scattered. Should have 100% by Wednesday.”

One last note from your columnist: The Internet and e-mail apparently never went down in Houston.