Plucky Puerto Rico: Island Economy Weathers Fiona’s Fury

When Hurricane Fiona struck Puerto Rico on Sept. 17, island residents, including Michael Shulevitz, president of Cadillac Services in suburban San Juan, were braced for devastation on the scale of a previous storm, Hurricane Maria, which struck in September 2017. It was bad, but not that bad, says Shulevitz, in part because company leaders have learned from past experience how to deal with severe weather events.

“Businesses seem to have done a much better job of being ready,” said Shulevitz, who says Cadillac remained closed on Monday after the storm, but it resumed operations on Tuesday. “Normally, we run our routes Monday through Friday,” he said, noting that due to the storm, they decided to run Monday’s deliveries on Tuesday and so forth throughout the week. “On Tuesday, we went out and to our surprise, the vast majority of our customers were open and prepared to receive our service.”

Shulevitz, who also serves on TRSA’s Board of Directors, emphasized that conditions on Tuesday were far from normal, but many businesses were muddling through. “That doesn’t mean they had water and light,” he said. “That means people were there, and they were running on generators.”

After Hurricane Maria, Cadillac managers discussed measures they could take to prepare better for future disasters. Their complex in Bayamon has multiple generators. Post-Maria improvements include the purchase of a 6,000-gallon (22,712-liter) tank for diesel fuel that’s kept on-site. The goal was to give the company up to 11 days of operating capacity, to allow time for local authorities to restore power and water services. The plant uses an on-site well for its water, so it has a degree of autonomy that allows it to keep going amid disasters like Hurricane Fiona.

As for the plant itself, wind and water damage was minimal. A few windows and roof areas experienced leaks, but these were minor issues, Shulevitz said.  “We had no wind damage,” he said. “There were places there that water was in.” Shulevitz added that shutting down power typically causes restarting issues with machinery. “Things like flatwork ironers, folders, sling systems, they all are running on PLCs,” Shulevitz said in a Sept. 21 interview with Textile Services Weekly. “They all get cranky when power goes on and off. We had some startup issues that we had to deal with. Certain problems we’re still dealing with, but mostly we were able to finish it by Monday (Sept. 19). We had some specialists come in and help us on Tuesday (Sept. 20).”

Shulevitz said several staff members stayed in the plant during the storm, so that they could deal promptly with restarting equipment or other contingencies. “A couple of our employees, our mechanics, offered to stay overnight at the plant,” he said. “They stayed Saturday night and most of Sunday. By Sunday evening, the storm was gone.” He added that while rain and “some nasty squalls” continued, these were milder than the hurricane itself.  “Overall, Puerto Rico got about 35 inches of rain in about 48 hours,” he says. “I heard about a couple places that got 28 inches in 24 hours and one place that got 15 inches of rain in three hours.”

While Hurricane Fiona did less damage than Maria, the human cost of both storms was significant. Hurricane Fiona is blamed for as many as eight deaths in Puerto Rico, according to news reports, plus widespread flooding and landslides, especially in mountainous areas in the central part of the island. Click here for details. Shulevitz said his staff experienced some difficulties, such as leaky roofs, but most were able to make it to work this week. As soon as the storm hit, the company took steps to reach out to employees to see how they were doing, he said.

“So far we know there are people who have water in their house, but mainly what we’re hearing is windows leaking water,” he said. “We have not heard as of yet major issues, thank God. That doesn’t mean that we won’t hear from them. Our attendance was remarkably good yesterday (Sept. 20), and today, better than we expected because a lot of our people do live up in the mountains.” Many of these areas had downed trees that blocked roads. Overall, he said “It’s not nearly as bad as Maria,” noting that most stores in the main metropolitan area are open.

After leaving Puerto Rico, Hurricane Fiona increased in power to a Category IV hurricane and caused major damage to the Turks and Caicos islands. Click here for details. As this article was posted on Sept. 23, the storm was headed toward Bermuda with 50-foot waves reported. It’s expected to continue moving up the East Coast over the weekend toward Canada’s Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. Click here for details.