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Trials, tribulations that were Hurricane Katrina and Rita
by Kent and Kim Dillow, Patriot Security
Ltd.
It�s hard to imagine that water and wind can team together in such fury and cause so much ruin, so much devastation, and so much heartache for so many people.
For years, Southeast Texas had been promised �The Big One.� This coastal region was past due for a direct hit by a hurricane, and in 2005 the Atlantic Ocean was continuing to churn up monster storms that all seemed dreadfully thirsty for the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico.
Less than a month after Katrina, Mother Nature was spawning yet another sister of destruction. Her name was Rita.
The entire Texas coast was put on alert as Rita strengthened from a tropical storm to a Category II hurricane after sweeping over the Florida Keys on Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2005.
Kim and Kent Dillow, owners of Patriot Security, Ltd., an alarm and security company in Port Neches, Texas, were keeping close watch of the hurricane�s path.
�You can never really prepare yourself for a hurricane,� Kim said. �As a security company, we�re expected to be here and respond in emergency situations.�
Providing their services to hospitals, refineries, manufacturing companies and financial institutions for 15 years, Patriot Security had every intention of weathering the storm.
Forecasters, however, were predicting Rita to be catastrophic when she landed. Building to near Category 5 strength as the hours passed, Rita was clearly setting her sights on the Texas Gulf Coast.
By Wednesday, Sept. 22, a Hurricane Warning was issued from Port O�Conner, Texas to Morgan City, La., prompting a mandatory evacuation to be called for all cities in Jefferson County, including Sabine Pass, Port Arthur, Port Neches and Beaumont.
With Katrina still fresh on everyone�s mind, residents in coastal Texas weren�t taking any changes. Thousands of people were heeding the evacuation orders. Leaving homes and businesses behind for a safer place.
With 200 employees on their payroll, The Dillow�s decided to keep the Patriot Security office open through Friday, Sept. 23 so workers could pick up paychecks before heading out of town. But, the paychecks, usually brought in from Houston, never came due to the evacuation. So, Kim and Kent began issuing duplicate checks from the payroll register. Yet, there was no place local for employees to cash the checks before leaving because banks and credit unions were closed.
�Kent kept running back and forth to the ATM getting cash for our employees until the ATM ran out of money,� Kim remembers. �We were trying to help our people the best we could.�
The company was also looking out for the best interest of their clients. Some of Patriot�s loyal employees and technicians decided to stay behind and help with lockdown procedures at hospitals and refineries.
Worried about the potential storm surge Rita could bring, the Dillow�s weatherproofed their office, raising furniture and office equipment off the floor to protect it from floodwaters. Packing up their computer server, financials and credentials, the Dillows locked up their business and prayed for the best.
�We were going to stay here through the storm,� Kim said. �But when the third local television station evacuated, we decided it was time to leave, too.�
Kim, Kent, and their 20-year-old son loaded their small pets and a few possessions into one vehicle and headed toward Dallas on Friday. Highways were in gridlock with evacuees fleeing the second major hurricane to threaten the Gulf Coast in less than a month.
After hours on the road, the family made it to their destination in Dallas. Kim and Kent found themselves glued to the hurricane coverage on television � desperate for any news about all that they�d left behind.
Hurricane Rita stormed ashore at Sabine Pass as a Category 3 during the early morning hours of Saturday, Sept. 24, 2005. She brought torrential rains and sustained winds of 120 mph as she tore inland.
�The news reports were saying it was no big deal,� remembers Kim. �They said we�d dodged a bullet, so we headed back home Saturday.�
But they would soon realize the news accounts of Hurricane Rita had been grossly understated.
�As we made it toward Houston, our cell phone started ringing. Our friends and clients were telling us that we couldn�t get in,� Kim said. �The military
was there and they had the roads blocked off to keep people out.�
As they traveled along I-10, Hurricane Rita�s destruction soon became apparent. Metal signage and roofs were ripped and torn and strewn about in a mangled mess. Debris littered roadways and ditches, and power lines dangled from utility poles snapped in half like toothpicks.
More than 700,000 people were without power. Nine counties were declared disaster areas. Rita had indeed made her presence felt in Southeast Texas.
Once into Jefferson County, the Dillows were able to use their state security credentials and granted access through the roadblocks set up by law enforcement officials.
Downed power lines and trees were everywhere, making travel especially treacherous through the streets of their Mid County community.
The Dillow home had suffered terrible damage. Trees had fallen on it. Water was in the kitchen. Fences were completely gone.
�There were people who knew we�d made it in and they wanted us to check on their homes,� Kim recalls. �It was tragic because we were having to tell these people such bad news.�
Southeast Texas had not dodged a bullet at all.
By Saturday evening the couple had made their way to see what damage their office had sustained. Although the exterior looked okay, the flat roof of the two-story building had not held up to Rita�s fury. It had fallen through, causing complete loss for the Patriot Security office.
With nightfall approaching fast and their home unsafe to stay in, the two retreated back to Houston.
�There were no lights anywhere. It was a darkness like you�ve never experienced,� Kim said. �We held flashlights outside of the truck windows so that we
could make our way through the streets. We were in utter disbelief.�
Sunday morning they were able to come back and make a complete assessment of the damage to their business.
�When we made it inside, it was the smell that hit you,� Kim said. �It would just knock you down.�
Nothing inside had survived the roof�s collapse. Computers, furniture, office stock, uniforms, alarm equipment � all destroyed. The total loss estimated at over $100,000.
�There are things you take for granted like stationary, envelopes and business cards. The things you reach for and it�s there,� Kim said. �It was all gone. Everything in there was a complete loss.�
Although their office was destroyed, their spirit was not. And Kim and Kent were going to do whatever it took to keep their business up and running.
�It was hard to find a moment to see clearly. Your immediate thought is of losing everything,� Kim said. �But we knew we had to save this business. We
had invested too much of ourselves in it.�
The two began contacting key employees who had evacuated from the storm, and with the help of their sales manager, were able to rent six rooms at
a Super 8 Motel in Mont Belvieu Sunday afternoon.
Kim describes that Super 8 Motel as the �Mecca� because it became the temporary headquarters for Patriot Security employees and their families.
�Next we needed an office structure,� Kent said. �We needed a place to run the base from.�
By Monday, Patriot Security had an office space leased in the Greenspoint area of Houston.
�We assembled our employees and we promised we would make this work,� Kim said. �We had all of these wide-eyed, scared employees in this empty office space wondering what to do next.�
But with the horror stories about looting and crime in New Orleans after Katrina, it wasn�t long before many businesses in the Rita-ravaged areas were eager for Patriot Security to begin providing their services.
�We had to find our guard force,� Kim said. �Thankfully, people were ready to go back to work. Everyday someone came back from our personnel roster.�
As more employees returned to work, more motel rooms were needed in the Houston area. During these trying times, some of Patriot Security�s vendors stepped up to help. GE employees donated their hotel points that added up to a week�s worth of hotel stays that were used by Patriot�s technicians. And the ADI vendor bought groceries and water for the displaced workers.
The working conditions in the first week after the storm were less than ideal. The Houston office was equipped with nothing more than a folding table and computer, where Kim spent countless hours scheduling employees who were commuting daily from their motel rooms to areas battered by the hurricane.
�Every minute of my day was spent scheduling, calling and listening to clients,� Kim said. �And every phone call was a horror story because employees and clients were finding their homes were damaged or destroyed. You could hear in their voice the devastation.�
But with everyday came improvements and it was clear that Patriot Security was not going to succumb to Rita�s wrath.
Within weeks, electricity was finally restored to the Southeast Texas area, and by mid-October the race for office space was on, as businesses clamored
to find an undamaged location where they could get up and running again. Kim and Kent were able to lease office space in the Port Arthur, Texas area,
which they are now operating the business from. They are also keeping the office space in Houston due to the client base built there during the storm.
�We have such a solid base of customers and loyal employees,� Kent said. �I don�t see it getting back to normal for a long time, but this will pass. We�ll deal with the expensive loss and get the company back to a profitable state.�
Patriot Security Ltd.
Kent & Kim Dillow
4749 Twin City Hwy Suite 105
Port Arthur, TX 77642
409-727-4944
Fax 409-722-8689
[email protected]
Houston Location:
Patriot Security Systems
749 Bradfield
Houston, TX 77060
281-272-9041
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