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News August 31, 2021

Promo Pros Deal With Ida’s Impacts & Aftermath

The hurricane slammed into Louisiana as a Category 4 storm with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph.

By  Christopher Ruvo

Update Friday, Sept. 3, Noon EDT
This article has been updated to reflect input from promotional products professionals in the Northeastern U.S., a section of the country that experienced historic rainfall, flooding and damaging tornados as the remnants of Hurricane Ida swept through on Wednesday, Sept. 1.

Mark Whitney experienced the wrath of Hurricane Ida firsthand.

The owner of Whitney Design & Specialty Printing (asi/359736) was hunkered down in his hometown of Houma when the Category 4 hurricane tore through with ear-piercing winds that cut a path of destruction through the city of more than 33,000 people in southern Louisiana’s Terrebonne Parrish. 

“The western part of the eyewall basically passed right over town,” says Whitney. “It looks like this could be our Katrina.”

But Whitney isn’t giving up.

He’s among the professionals in the promotional products industry that are starting to pick up the pieces after Ida slammed into their personal and business lives.

The hurricane made landfall roughly 60 miles southeast of Houma in Port Fourchon, LA, on Sunday, Aug. 29, with maximum sustained winds of 150 mph, just seven mph shy of a Category 5 – the most severe hurricane ranking.

Ida’s powerful winds and dangerous storm surge would go on to plow into New Orleans and other parts of the Bayou State, knocking out power to more than 1 million customers and putting some 911centers out of service.

Authorities say it could be three weeks before some areas see power restored. Whitney is expecting it to be at least that long in his section of Houma, where he says uprooted trees, snapped telephone poles, shorn roofs and more are part of the altered landscape. He runs his business out of his home, and as he does his own screen printing and embroidery there, the affect on his bottom line could be substantial.

“I’m sitting on an order of 400 shirts right now and I don’t think it will be finished by the deadline,” Whitney shares. “We just don’t have the power to do it.”

The troubles from Ida are compounding the business frustrations brought on by COVID-19, which for Whitney include lost sales due to event cancellations, such as the nixing of the local Rougarou Festival, a happening themed around a spooky werewolf-like character from Cajun folklore. Whitney typically does apparel for the festival.

Still, Whitney is feeling grateful. His home and a camper on his property made it through relatively unscathed; not even a shingle was missing from the roof. He’s physically fine, and he’s been hard at work cleaning up, as are others in his community.

“We’re pretty hardy stock down here,” he says. “We’re used to big storms. After they come through, we get right to rebuilding.”

Ida hurricane damage images

Promo pro Mark Whitney took these photos within a few blocks of his home in Houma, LA after Hurricane Ida had moved through town.

Eric LeCompte isn’t wasting any time getting back to normalcy either. The president of Houma-based distributor Ad Express Inc. (asi/105247) says he and his family, along with employees, evacuated before the storm. All are doing well – so much so that the Ad Express team was working on Monday, just a day after Ida ripped through.

“Our hometown took a big hit, but we have the ability to operate remotely and we were able to send off some orders today,” LeCompte shares.

Elsewhere in Louisiana, promo pros were expressing thanks that the worst of the storm had passed them by. The team at Lafayette, LA-based Ace Specialties (asi/103553), for instance, was plugging away at work on Tuesday.

“We’re operating and doing well,” an employee tells ASI Media. “It was a close call for us, but we’re fine.”

HALO Branded Solutions (asi/356000) is headquartered in Illinois, but as promo’s largest distributor the company has sales professionals based around the country, including Louisiana. Terry McGuire, senior vice president, says the immediate good news is that HALO salespeople in the area are safe. Still, uncertainty remains.

“It’s too early to tell what impact the storm will have on business and the personal lives of our account executives and clients,” says McGuire, noting HALO is closely monitoring the situation.

Ida’s Remnants Pound the Northeast

Ida was no longer a hurricane when it plowed into the Northeastern U.S., but the powerful storm still slammed areas of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York, including NYC and Philadelphia, with historic rainfall and catastrophic flooding, killing at least 40 people as of this writing.

The storm also spawned destructive tornadoes that ripped apart homes in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania. Meg Erber, a sales leader with Top 40 supplier S&S Activewear (asi/84358), was in the direct path of one of those tornadoes, which shredded homes just down the street from her in Mullica Hill, NJ.

Meg Erber

A tornado was speeding toward promo pro Meg Erber’s home but veered shortly before what would have been impact.

“When the tornado warning signal hit our phones, the air was weirdly calm, no wind, no rain and no birds chirping – it didn’t seem real, but it was freakishly alarming,” shares Erber.

As the wind accelerated, Erber and her family took shelter in their basement and watched the tornado racing toward them on a radar mobile app. “It was headed straight for us and then took a sharp left,” Erber says.

Neighbors just down the street weren’t as lucky. The tornado, an extremely rare weather event for New Jersey, reduced some homes to rubble and badly damaged others.

 “Neighbors in our communities have lost everything,” says Erber.

Still, she reports that locals are supporting those in need.

“Every local business either stepped up to donate or to become a donation center,” Erber says. “Schools and churches stepped in to offer safe havens for those displaced. Animal rescues and shelters are offering free boarding for animals and livestock. People are making meals and dropping them off to families and offering their homes up to take care of displaced families and pets…Clean-up started immediately. It’s been all hands on deck.”

Erber further reflected: “At the end of the day, everything lost is replaceable. People are not. And we still have each other.”

Beyond harrowing personal experiences, there were impacts to some promo firms’ business operations as well.

“Our Harrisburg (PA) distribution center lost power on Wednesday late afternoon and it didn’t come back up until almost midnight, so we did have end of day orders that had to roll forward,” reports Andrea Routzahn, chief merchant at Trevose, PA-based alphaborder (asi/34063), the industry’s second largest supplier.

flooded parking lot

The parking lot at supplier AAA Innovations in Norwood, NJ flooded, but the waters would later recede.

Alphabroder Employees had to deal with fallout like power losses at home and disruption for children’s routines in what was the first week back to school for many public schools in Pennsylvania. “What we’ve experienced was nothing catastrophic thankfully but just another challenge on top of already challenging times,” says Routzahn, referring in part to issues related to supply chain challenges.

Meanwhile, flood waters filled the parking at AAA Innovations (asi/30023) in Norwood, New Jersey. “The water receded during the day Thursday, and so luckily there was only minimal damage,” says President/CEO Jeffrey Nanus. “Streets were closed so a few employees could not make it in to work, but thankfully they’re otherwise okay. We’re fortunate.”

Promo’s Helping Hand

As promo pros and their communities grapple with Ida’s aftermath, some within the industry are already stepping up to help.

A Gulf Coast region neighbor to Louisiana and no stranger to devastating storms, Houston-based supplier Hirsch Gift (asi/61005) is spearheading an aid drive that includes collecting and distributing essential relief items including T-shirts, power banks, flashlights, water, diapers, toiletries, feminine hygiene products, games/puzzles, towels/blankets, cleaning products and over-the-counter medications like Tylenol. All donations can be shipped to Hirsch Gift, 5121 Ashbrook Dr., Houston, TX 77081.

“Due to the urgency of the situation, we ask that donations be received no later than Tuesday, September 7,” Hirsch Gift said in a statement. “Thank you for your generosity and support of the Gulf Coast region.”

Tim Andrews, president and CEO of ASI, ASI Media’s parent company and the promo industry’s largest membership organization, said, “ASI’s entire staff is ready to help any impacted industry company in any way possible. Our thoughts and prayers extend to everyone impacted by this disaster, with wishes of better days ahead.”