All That Cash Gone To Waste

NEW ORLEANS - (09/13/05) -- With millions, perhaps billions, ofdollars stuck in locked vaults, cash registers and ATMs in areashit by Hurricane Katrina, much of that cash is expected to beunusable after it is recovered. "If the cash is underwater for avery long time it's useless; it becomes clay-like, very mushy,"said Mike Clinnard, chief operating officer of Houston-basedCardtronics, which had as many as 90 of its own ATMs underwater asof Monday. Thousands of ATMs have been put out of service form themassive storm and its aftermath, either left without electric poweror phone connections or under as much as five feet of water. Oncethe ATMs or flooded cash vaults are accessed the waterloggedcurrency will be returned to the Federal Reserve via armoredcarrier for its destruction, Clinnard told The Credit UnionJournal. Cardtronics manages 26,000 ATMs, the largest fleet in thenation.