Article written by David McMillin on ConstructionExec.com
Hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires and more—each of these major weather events comes with different challenges, but they all share one common need: someone who knows how to rebuild.
More than two feet of rain drenching Fort Lauderdale in a day, baseball-sized hail chunks falling on Minneapolis and the deadliest wildfire in more than a century destroying more than 2,100 acres of Maui—2023 was a stark reminder that Mother Nature is a force to be reckoned with. In total, $28 billion dollars’ worth of extreme weather and climate-related disasters ripped across the U.S. last year—a new record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. And there’s no relief in sight: 2024 is already the second-busiest tornado season on the books, and wildfires were burning in Oregon, California, Montana and Texas as this issue went to print.
Part of dealing with disasters is preparing for their impact to infrastructure, and Roland Orgeron Jr.—who co-founded New Orleans-based Legacy Industries with business partner Blake Couch in 2016—has been helping clients do just that. “We do a lot of consulting to identify vulnerabilities, and we offer action plans for companies based on potential storm scenarios,” Orgeron Jr. says.
Some of those clients include large oil and gas companies with operations along the Mississippi River that cannot afford to be shut down for any extended period. “Before Hurricane Ida hit, we pre-positioned equipment inside some facilities, and we had guys responding the day after the storm to clear the area and assess the damage,” Orgeron Jr. says. During the immediate response to Hurricane Ida in 2021, the company’s work involved more than keeping the business locations up and running; they needed to help a business’ employees find a place to live. “We have a home stabilization contract with one oil and gas company designed to make sure their employees can get back to work as comfortably and quickly as possible,” Orgeron Jr. says.
Recently, Orgeron Jr. has seen other companies outside the energy sector request similar services to make sure they can maintain their workforce—a clear signal that more business leaders have begun prioritizing the need to disaster-proof their operations. A recent survey of business decision makers conducted by Aon revealed that 59% of companies have taken steps to quantify the financial impact of extreme weather. They’re going to need to do more than crunch the numbers, though: A C-suite survey conducted by critical event management company OnSolve in 2023 showed that only 37% of leaders have a plan in place for extreme weather.
A LONG ROAD AHEAD
When an EF-3 tornado ripped through Wynne, Arkansas, in the spring of 2023, the storm destroyed the town’s high school. Paul Hively, business development officer at Nabholz, worked with the town’s school district to help secure the school before setting up temporary classrooms that are currently in use. Now, the company is handling the ongoing rebuild of the school, which Hively estimates will be a three- to four-year process.
In other cases, the recovery process can take significantly longer. In early 2024, Hawaii state senator Angus McKelvey estimated that it could take 10 to 20 years to rebuild the town of Lahaina. While that may sound like a dire prediction, it’s a reality that other communities have faced, too: Legacy Industries is currently building 20 homes on lots acquired after the 2005 devastation of Hurricane Katrina via a partnership with SBP, a nonprofit organization based in New Orleans that works on recovery operations throughout the Gulf Coast.
NEW BEST PRACTICES
Storm-related challenges are only increasing: A recent study published in the journal Science Advances forecasts that the most intense hurricanes and typhoons could more than double by 2050, with wind speeds in those storms increasing by as much as 20%. While that may sound overwhelming, leaders are using the biggest storms in recent memory to bolster their preparedness efforts.
“We took everything we learned from Hurricane Ian and revised our natural disaster policy,” Matthew Johnson, director of operations at R.D. Johnson in Fort Myers, Florida said. Part of those revisions involves lots of additional supply purchasing, including drywall, cutting saws, sump pumps, straps, tarps and gas cans. “We don’t use all these materials on our jobs every day, but two years ago, I was scrambling,” Johnson said. “I was calling people in California and Montana who weren’t impacted by the storm to find tools, equipment and materials. We’ve also been in discussion with our suppliers about having a certain amount of drywall, studs and plywood ready to go during hurricane season.”
Looking ahead, Johnson is doing what every contractor who works in a disaster-prone area needs to do: working to be ready for whatever comes their way. “This is supposed to be a pretty active hurricane season,” Johnson said. “Supposedly, it may have the most named storms on record. The telltale sign is when [Weather Channel correspondent] Jim Cantore arrives—then you know you’re in trouble.”
