HOUSTON - With hurricane season approaching, one credit union here believes it will be prepared thanks to lessons learned during previous hurricanes, including Rita and Katrina.
The $340-million credit union was lucky to get through the storms without suffering damage to its facilities or injury to staff. It also averted money problems by taking steps before the hurricanes touched down. The credit union’s disaster planning called for monitoring cash at its locations when an impending disaster might cause a run on money.
“We watched our cash flow throughout the day as Katrina arrived,” recalled Linda Webster, Smart Financial’s SRVP of administration. “We went from allowing withdrawals of $1,200 all the way down to $500. All the banks around us were running out of money.”
Earlier in the week the CU decided to bring in additional cash. “Four days before Katrina swept through I told our vice president that we needed to order cash, and very quickly we had money coming into all of our eight locations,” Webster said. “That’s one way we weathered the storm.”
Barely. The day after Katrina hit Webster admits the CU almost ran out of cash. “We had money on hand, but not a lot.”
After the storms, when people migrated to Houston from areas devastated by the hurricanes, Smart Financial helped the community, donating $11,500 to emergency assistance and matched a $1,500 donation from staff and members.
“We helped out churches and facilities that housed those who lost their homes in the storm and we donated food and clothing,” Webster said.
While the CU never kept a record of how many members it picked up from those permanently relocating to Houston, Webster knows one person the credit union helped start a new life. “We hired an employee at one of our branches who lost everything in the storm. She was thrilled.”
If a hurricane hits this season, Webster says the CU is ready.
“We’ve spent a lot of money getting an offsite disaster recovery redundant system ready to go and we bought a generator. Every year we get a little better at this.”
