Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Sandy vs. the SRM Team


Hurricane Sandy Told by Mike Soukup Director of Sales and Marketing
I arrived Monday 10-29 waiting for the arrival of Sandy. I teamed up with my buddies from NOAA and headed for Manhattan 10-30 received call from my contact at Hertz Corporation that their facility in Newark NJ had been under 7 feet of water. Since they are the premiere sponsor for vehicles at the NYC Marathon they needed to be up and running in (4) days. Responded to site at 8am , had operations with reserve power and equipment on site by 10am.





The facility next door was Cummins Power , a major generator supplier for area and we responded to their facility also with additional equipment and personnel.
Our mobile command center allows us to maintain satellite communication with our field operations group as well as Internet and voice communication with our home office in Minneapolis. With the ability to sleep 6 people we can be a 24/7 response.








Our truck mounted desiccant can dry 5000 cubic feet per minute and has its own 150 kilowatt generator for additional power



At 7pm , both jobs are up and running , water is being extracted and the sorting of Salvage and non-salvage items started. The devastation here is beyond description , some say as bad as Katrina in many respects.  6 million w/o power and temps in 40's and no gas to get somewhere.  Store shelves are bare, trees are down and lower Manhattan is out of commission for days , maybe weeks...


10-31 back at both Hertz and Cummins full involved in demolition and debris removal
We have 16 SRM personnel from our Maple Grove - St Paul and Madison offices working with 50 temporary labor personnel.













Two new jobs sourced today , Dress Barn retail store in Belleville Mall and Sally Beauty Supply warehouse will start tomorrow.  Gas and diesel fuel are major issues as lines are 3-4 hours waiting in line and tempers are short. One man shot dead because he cut in line... OMG!   Finally found hotel rooms for everyone about 40 miles away in Edison.......Happy Halloween.....





11-1 to 11-4 all jobs fully involved with progress being made......Hertz able to get back into shop and meet its commitment for marathon only to have it cancelled at the 11th hour....at least we did our part.  Seeing RATS now.....some big as my cat Hootie!
Traffic makes getting supplies a logistical nightmare and since Friday am my new title is resource co-ordination......everything from fuel , dumpsters , portable bathrooms , temp labor , lighting , food and trips to Grainger and Home Depot are now of highest priority. Everything is needed NOW !!  Days start at 5am and go till 11pm. The good news is that we are now getting fuel delivered each day.
All this time Randy Hedden has been coordinating the power generation for all of the affected Target stores in New Jersey , New York and Connecticut. This is a 24/7 job and keeping the lights on in these stores so people can shop and get what they need is critical. Fueling and service calls at all hours, but the stores have all stayed on line!!





11-6 update......
   Great concern today over the impending storm and what flooding will occur. As we are located right on the waterfront any amount of storm surge could undo 8 days of hard work. We are watching the water levels and are positioned for a "rapid evacuation" if the circumstances call for. Many people on outer banks foregoing evacuation, as one person put it to me “nothing left to loose"
Gas lines have decreased as the "even - odd" system seems to be working very smoothly.
We are well into our job at the NJ Port Authority , massive warehouse system that needs to be cleaned up as containers pile up in the holding areas. Saw many containers marked for retail stores with toys !!!!!  Don't worry though , I'm sure Santa knows where to find them.
Current temp 31 with winds about 30-35 and gusting.....gettin pretty sporty again



Sun rose bright over the New Jersey shore today as we begin our 11th day of work after hurricane Sandy's devastation. The crew's work has been outstanding and we are almost 2 full days ahead of schedule for finishing our major jobs at Hertz sand Cummins International. Customers are excited as each day they see the progress we make in bringing their facility back to pre-loss condition and they can get back to work and some small sense of normality. It is interesting to watch the interaction of our crews with the people at different catastrophes we service, from Florida to Louisiana and now New Jersey. They represent Minnesota and the Midwest well and find the diversity in this country amazing. Workers are workers no matter where in the country you are and the common ground is found very quickly no matter where you are from.

What a great country!

Mike Soukup
Service Master
Director of Sales and Marketing