GALVESTON, Texas – As many as 180 credit unions from the Gulf to Houston were reporting damages from Hurricane Ike yesterday, many of which will take months to recover.
Power outages were the norm, especially on Galveston Island, which is expected to be without electricity for several days and many locations still were under a foot or more of water. Several parts of Houston remained closed to unauthorized personnel yesterday to protect against looting. More than 30 looters were arrested over the weekend.
“We think there may be some locations that may never open for business again,” Rick Grady, spokesman for the Texas CU League, told The Credit Union Journal yesterday.
Credit unions were working feverishly to restore members’ services over the weekend, with dozens operating from pre-established back-up recovery sites and others from generous fellow credit unions’ facilities.
NCUA activated its emergency plans, calling on credit unions to reschedule loans for damaged properties and offering to provide emergency liquidity to needy credit unions.
