As many stores sell supplies, other businesses put things on hold
Airlines wrestled with schedule fluctuations, ports halted ship movements and hardware stores rushed to stock up on generators. As Hurricane Harvey continued its slow march toward Texas, Houston-area businesses began feeling the early effects and preparing for a potentially massive fallout.
Wind and storm surge could cause between $1 billion and $2 billion worth of insured property losses for residential and commercial properties, according to an Irvine, Calif.-based CoreLogic analysis. This does not include insured losses related to additional flooding, business interruption or contents since rainfall is projected to last for several days.
The potential for property damages put the real estate market in the early stages of upheaval on Friday.
Home sales scheduled to close early next week were being postponed. Open houses were being canceled, and shoppers were putting their searches on hold.
Amy Bernstein of Bernstein Realty said some lenders don’t want to fund loans on Monday, and some sales won’t be able to close if the properties aren’t covered by flood insurance.
“When the hurricane goes into the Gulf, you can’t buy your insurance,” she said.
Bernstein said she had a verbal agreement on a house in Meyerland, but the buyer is now waiting until the storm passes to sign the papers.
She expressed concern about what will happen to home values in the neighborhood, as well as in parts of Memorial, Spring Branch
and Braeswood Place that were flooded in recent years.
“It seems like those areas are just starting to rebound,” she said. “As time has passed, people are having confidence again.”
Houstonians with homes had another mindset Friday: keeping the lights on. Northern Tool + Equipment had lines of people outside before opening its Houston-area stores at 8 a.m., said Tim Keener, regional sales manager for Northern.
The Minnesota chain, with six local stores, worked to keep shelves stocked with generators, which along with power cords were top sellers.
Throughout Friday, the company arranged to bring truckloads of products from its distribution center in Arlington to restock the popular $399 generators, Keener said.
“It will do most of what you would want in a storm situation to be able to protect your refrigerated goods, power up any televisions to stay informed about what’s going on, run some lights, fans, if there was a power outage,” Keener said.
The company is also building its supply of materials needed after the storm. That includes water pumps to handle floodwaters, chain saws for tree removal and tarps to protect structures from the rain.
Walmart activated its emergency operations center. The center is accelerating deliveries of bottled water, prepared foods, flashlights, batteries, fuel containers and other emergency items throughout South Texas.
Kroger is likewise restocking Texas stores with water and emergency supplies. But it’s modifying the schedule of 16 area stores that are typically open 24 hours. They will close at 1 a.m. Saturday and reopen at 6 a.m.
H-E-B regional spokeswoman Cyndy GarzaRoberts said the San Antonio-based grocery chain is closing about two dozen stores in the coastal region. It also closed one in Bay City, about 80 miles southwest of Houston.
Target has closed two stores in the coastal area, spokeswoman Erika Winkels said.
It’s not just retailers closing up shop. The U.S. Coast Guard shut down multiple ports, including those at Houston, Galveston, Texas City, Freeport and Corpus Christi. It set port condition zulu, which prohibits ships from entering or leaving. Companies are not allowed to unload cargo from ships.
The Coast Guard expects the ports to remain closed for as long as Hurricane Harvey poses a threat.
Many ships left before the ports were closed. Being anchored offshore may be a better option than being tethered to a dock in port, said Niels Aalund, senior vice president of the West Gulf Maritime Association. In ports, he said, ships might break loose and hit docks or other vessels.
Houston’s airports remained open Friday, but they had more than 100 flight cancellations between Bush Intercontinental and Hobby, according to FlightAware. The two airports had more than 200 flight delays.
United Airlines said its teams in Houston and other South Texas airports were preparing for Harvey by repositioning aircraft and bringing in additional employees, mainly customer service agents and ramp workers. United had 15 proactive cancellations out of Houston on Friday for regional flights to airports in South Texas due to the storm. It also canceled 25 flights out of South Texas airports and ceased operations at Corpus Christi, McAllen Miller and Valley International.
Southwest Airlines likewise reduced flights at Hobby on Friday and for Saturday. It ceased operations at Corpus Christi and Harlingen.