Hurricane Rita's One-Two Punch

In at least one case, a solution provider that had evacuated New Orleans after Katrina was forced back into the city.

Bill Luketich, vice president of Restech Information Systems, relocated to Lafayette, La., after Katrina hit company headquarters. Just as Luketich had gotten into a routine from the remote offices, he had to flee Lafayette when Rita roared into town. Rather than push west into Texas—farther from home—Luketich drove back to New Orleans, a city he was unsure he would ever return to permanently.

“We were just too emotionally and physically exhausted to be on the road with the family for another 15 hours,” Luketich said.

With seemingly no other choice, Restech planned to move its business operations back to New Orleans last weekend.

“It has been a little difficult servicing our clients since we have been spread from New Orleans to Houston. Certainly, the drive times are a little longer than what we are used to. [But] as each week passes, we are seeing more clients migrate back to the unaffected areas in Jefferson and Orleans Parishes,” Luketich said.

Meanwhile, Chris Vincent, senior vice president of Global Data Systems, a Lafayette-based solution provider, has spent the past month getting Katrina-affected customers& communications systems back up, only to have to worry about another set of customers following Rita.

Global Data Systems had transferred its own communications systems to its Houston data center after Katrina, but with Rita on the way, employees worked to roll everything back to Lafayette before the storm hit, Vincent said.

Many customers, especially in Lake Charles, La., were hard hit by the storm. Global Data Systems& customers in the town include the municipal government, hospitals and the school system, Vincent said. As of last week, Global Data Systems still had not been able to get into town to assist them.

“They are still reeling over there,” Vincent said. “All that is left of some of these buildings is a slab.”