Deliveries halted in Harvey flood zones

UPS, FedEx, Postal Service, Amazon suspend services in parts of Texas, Louisiana

The outages raise concerns about residents who rely on mailorder prescriptions.

Shipping giants UPS, FedEx and the U.S. Postal Service have indefinitely ceased delivery to major swaths of Texas and Louisiana amid Hurricane Harvey devastation, potentially disrupting supplies of critical medicines, food and other packages.

The ferocious flooding that has pummeled the region is preventing or severely limiting the major delivery companies from reaching hundreds of cities and thousands of neighborhoods.

The Postal Service, famous for its commitment to delivering in bad weather, said it had suspended service at “several facilities” and temporarily closed dozens of post offices.

“When you think about all the families and small businesses that are impacted — just the sheer number of ZIP codes that were impacted — it’s pretty astonishing,” UPS spokesman Matt O’Connor said.

Online giant Amazon.com said it had temporarily shuttered its Houston-area facilities and that many local customers “should expect delays” in packages “until the floods subside.” The storm may also have damaged some delivery infrastructure.

Although it’s unclear how many residents are awaiting packages, the outages raise serious concerns about vulnerable residents who rely on just-intime delivery of mail-order prescriptions and other goods.

Harvey, which is now considered a tropical storm, has knocked out or significantly limited UPS delivery to more than 730 ZIP codes in Texas and Louisiana, the company said. O’Connor said UPS employees’ safety was the company’s top objective.

FedEx temporarily suspended air delivery to more than 350 cities and temporarily suspended or dramatically cut back ground delivery to more than 490 cities. Large cities without either option included Houston, Corpus Christi and Galveston.

“Our priority is always the safety of our team members and providing service to our customers,” FedEx spokesman Jonathan Lyons said in a statement.

It was not immediately clear how the delivery outage was affecting online delivery of certain critical products such as prescriptions.

For customers not able to receive mail-order prescriptions, CVS spokesperson Stephanie Cunha said the company “is able to provide one-time emergency refills” at stores with 10-day supplies. However, about 180 of the company’s 770 stores in the areas affected by Harvey are currently closed.