FEI members cope with wrath of Hurricane Katrina.

• Author: Heffes, Ellen M.
• Position: FeiNEWS - Financial Executives International

The day before Katrina hit land, longtime FEI members Stan Smith and Tom Sandeman of the New Orleans chapter evacuated town. It's an exercise they and their families have been through many times before--in fact, Sandeman says he and his family have evacuated 12 times in the 22 years he's lived in Metairie, La. The drill is to pack a few things, get out quickly and wait it out. Normally, evacuations were short-lived, and they would be back home and back to their lives within two to three days.

This time, however, they don't know when they can go back. And, for Smith, when he does go back, he doesn't know what's in store. Speaking 10 days after he left on Sunday, Aug. 28, he hadn't been allowed in the area to get to his home, which is just across the Mississippi River from the French Quarter. He said its location, on the high side, may have kept it dry. But, he had no information.

We spoke in person when he was in New Jersey to attend FEI's board meeting in early September. Smith serves as Area Vice President for the Southwestern area. He's currently living with his wife in a hotel room in Houston, where he's working on a consulting job.

Sandeman was living in Atlanta with his wife; his son was in Houston, having traveled for 14 hours the day prior to the hurricane; the trip usually takes about 5 hours.

Smith and Sandeman were the only two FEI members (of five approached) who responded to Financial Executive's emails. Perhaps, 10 days after the hurricane hit, many residents in the New Orleans area just didn't have access to email. There was no response from Mississippi, either.

Indeed, communications in the affected areas has been greatly impacted. One concern of a hurricane, generally, is business interruption. Smith says he helped design the continuity plan for a manufacturing business he worked with several years ago. However, that plan wouldn't work for this hurricane, since much of it relied on connecting employees via cell phones and email. With no electricity, and servers down, most email was disrupted.

Also, once cell phones ran out of power, there was no way to recharge them. Smith says he and his wife have purchased new cell phones, with different telephone numbers, since the lines in the 504 New Orleans area code remained down.

Sandeman's home had about 2-3 feet of water running through it, but by the time his wife was allowed back for a few days, the water had receded. He left behind his home office, which was destroyed--his desk...