Small firms cope with storms’ effects
Local businesses try to navigate disruptions as flooding impacts day-to-day operations
Visitors to Javaman Coffee on Friday morning in Atascocita seemed concerned as storms flooded areas nearby.
“I don’t want to sound all doom and gloom, but it’s not a good feeling. They’re coming in and looking at one another — and it’s not a good feeling,” said owner Mark Norelli.
Some Javaman customers experienced flooding during Hurricane Harvey, Norelli said, and on Friday many were talking about what to expect. Some customers came to the coffee shop to work remotely because they had lost their internet connection at home.
Small businesses around Houston this week navigated disruptions to their operations, such as employees who couldn’t come to work, fewer customers and canceled appointments, as storms and flooding ravaged the area.
CenterPoint Energy said outages had affected about 8,000 customers, while Entergy Texas said about 13,100 of its customers were without service Friday afternoon.
Meanwhile, Harris, Montgomery, Waller and Liberty counties were among those under a flood watch until at least Friday evening, the National Weather Service said earlier in the day.
Jack Maxey, at Jim’s Do It Best Hardware in Montgomery, said people were buying ponchos, sandbags and flood barriers. One customer came in to buy cinder blocks to raise furniture off the ground, he said.
“When it’s raining, it’s not too busy, but when it’s flooding, people are more concerned with personal property, trying to do what they can to get through it,” Maxey said.
Hannah Quijada, owner of HQT Bridal Tailoring in the Kingwood area, said she navigated a two-and-a-half-hour
commute on Thursday, compared with her 10- to 15-minute drive from New Caney. She normally takes Kingwood Drive, which was closed. It was easier Friday morning, but she anticipated challenges getting back home.
Quijada said she had to cancel about 10 appointments since Thursday, and she was canceling Saturday appointments out of caution. She said HQT usually adds extra time to work with brides-to-be in case of unexpected events, such as sickness and bad weather.
“Thankfully, everyone appears to be calm about it so far,” Quijada said.
At Painted Tree Boutiques in Kingwood, employee Carmen Martinez said she expected more customers early Friday morning as prom season continues. Painted Tree, which had to close Thursday morning because of the weather, is home to vendors selling clothes and home decor items. But in the first hour of business Friday, she had no customers.
At Flowers of Kingwood, owner Robin Martinez said the flower shop could not make deliveries Friday morning because of the weather, and four employees couldn’t make it in.
“Any work that we’ve already done, it’s lost work,” said Martinez, who works with fresh flowers.
She said she’s supposed to deliver flowers Saturday to events that include a wedding near Lake Houston. But she’s faced similar challenges before.
“It’s happened in the past,” Martinez said. “We just regroup, move on and do the best we can.”