Surviving the storm

Dan Martino, the senior director of Texas administration for Inteplast Group, peeked outside every hour on the hour as Hurricane Harvey hammered southeastern Texas on Aug. 25, 2017.

He was hunkered down at his home, which had no electricity, with some colleagues, including security team manager Henry Totman, as well as a family that lived in a mobile home.

Outside, the first major hurricane to make landfall since 2005 meandered around the Gulf Coast, intensifying to a Category 4 with winds up to 130 mph and torrential rain.

"We watched the wind whipping my oak trees like a child lapping up spaghetti," Martino told Plastics News. "We drove to the [plant] site as soon as the winds were manageable."

Leaving about 10 a.m., Martino and Totman saw damage everywhere: trees toppled over, power lines strewn about, buildings left roofless, flooded fields and ​ battered crops.

"The small towns that normally have activity looked like ghost towns. No one had ventured out yet," Martino said of the 30-mile drive to Inteplast's flagship plant in Lolita near the Gulf of Mexico.

The 525-acre site employs about 2,300 people who produce a variety of stretch film, cross-laminated film, garment bags, trash can liners and plastic sheeting, including a thick hurricane board made of polypropylene used to cover windows. Workers had spent some intense hours bracing the seven buildings for Hurricane Harvey, and the two were about to see the aftermath.

"It was eerie. No lights on, no cars, no security guards. We began our inspection," Martino said.

To his surprise, the Lolita site fared well, except for one building, which sustained roof damage above an electrical distribution system that either needed custom-ordered spare parts or some innovative substitutes. There was no other major damage to buildings or infrastructure.

After a few hours of inspections, Martino and Totman created a report of their findings and recovery mode was activated. While some of the repairs took as long as two months to complete, most of the site came back on line four days after Harvey hit and production resumed five days later.

"Great planning efforts by production, shipping and the transportation team made it possible to commence shipping on the second day post-storm," Martino added.

Then, donations of supplies and money poured in for employees suffering losses at home. Hurricane Harvey caused $125 billion of damage, second only to Katrina as the costliest tropical storm in the U.S. At one point, 30,000 people were displaced.

"We documented more than 112 employees whose homes were damaged or destroyed, and there are likely more damaged that we didn't learn about," said Brenda Wilson, senior director of human resources and communications.

Affiliated Inteplast plants in North America sent canned goods, diapers, cleaning supplies, nonperishable food and $50,000 in donations that the company matched.

"Because school had just started, and then subsequently many schools were damaged, school supplies were needed. Our colleagues made this a priority as well," Wilson said.

Founded in 1991 and based in Livingston, N.J., Inteplast Group has about 7,000 employees at more than 50 facilities manufacturing products for the health care, food service, packaging, building, grocery, retail, sanitation, industrial and graphic arts markets.

Looking back a year, Inteplast storm veterans credit their restoration of operations in four to five days to "effective procedures" for everything from evacuating the site to helping employees return to work. Here's what they have learned over time from the plant floor to administration.

When a storm warning goes into effect, storm preparations begin, Peter Zamarripa, Inteplast general plant manager, said in a phone interview.

The warning about Harvey and the likelihood of an epic rainfall showed up in weather model forecasts on Aug. 22, 2017, and would soon hold true as 40 inches of rain pummeled Texas over a course of four days. Disaster declarations were issued for 30 Texas counties on Aug. 23, 2017.

Of the seven buildings at the Lolita site, Zamarripa oversees one that is about 1 million square feet and houses a lot of plastic converting equipment, which all had to be shut down and covered. Polyethylene sheeting produced at the campus was wrapped around production assets, particularly the electronic cabinets.

Another product manufactured in Lolita, hurricane board, was put over plant windows.

"We sell it to different companies as a substitute for plywood to cover windows," Zamarripa said. "At the time of the hurricane, we were almost sold out. We felt the weight of that, too. There was definitely a lot of pressure to get back into production."

Inteplast employees also stocked up on diesel fuel for generators and filled the resin silos to both stabilize the structures against the wind and have enough material on hand in case of supply disruptions.

"We've done these enough times — at least four times in about 15 years — so we know what we have to do," Zamarripa said. "We've got it down to a science and can shut the whole place down and cover the equipment in less than four hours."

Zamarippa, who lives on the coast, where there had been a mandatory evacuation, rode out the storm about two and a half hours away in Austin, Texas. On Aug. 28, 2017, he spent about six hours driving home to check on his place, which neighbors had told him seemed fine. The next day, he headed over to Inteplast. He went to the on-site command center for a meeting.

"You had to be there in person to hear updates," Zamarripa said.

At the site, Inteplast storm response teams also used a two-way radio system to share information and make decisions quickly. Zamarripa joined a skeleton crew at his building.

"We tried to contact as many people as we could to ask when they could come back to help clean up, uncover the equipment, handle the water and repair the electrical system," he said. "Some people couldn't come. We understood. We're close to the coast and a few people had significant damage to their homes."

Inteplast welding machines that can double as generators offered some sources of power, and other generators had been ordered from a rental business.

"We lucked out," Zamarripa said.

Giving the roof a temporary fix was high on the to-do list, followed by mopping up water, unwrapping equipment, drying everything, firing machines back up and running new wire for the electrical system.

"We're really blessed with a skilled workforce," Zamarippa said. "We worked a good seven days — 15-hour days and some us 24 hours a day trying to get the place back up in production."

It would be about two weeks before he felt things were back to normal at his building.

"It wasn't perfect, but it was to where we could operate," Zamarripa said.

Elsewhere at the Inteplast complex, maintenance teams had equipment back on line when power was restored on Aug. 29.

With the recovery process underway, the human resources and communication teams got busy gathering return-to-work information. They created a ramp-up schedule and set up a 1-800 hotline number to share prerecorded information with staff. They also used a network of managers and supervisors as well as the local media to pass along updates.

In addition, they worked with local, county and state officials to verify that highways were passable and employees could safely travel. Some of the information was posted on monitors in building break rooms and lobbies on Inteplast's interactive TV system, especially about the weather and roads.

"As the storm moved north and east of our location, substantial flooding occurred so constant updates on those conditions were shared with employees," Martino said.

About 13,000 Texans needed rescue from flooded areas. The Houston area was hard hit. Inteplast does a lot of business there, so the staff came up with backup plans to send shipments at the times that worked best for customers.

"Having your own trucking team provides great flexibility when recovering from a disaster," Martino said.

Shipments of donations also started arriving to Inteplast for the dozens of employees dealing with damage on the home front. As supplies became available, they were distributed at an education and wellness center.

It took Inteplast's Lolita site about three months before it reached the point where Martino said there was no evidence of a hurricane.

"However, it's now been one year, and sad to say, there are so many businesses and community members that still have not recovered from the storm," he added. "Blue tarps can still be seen on many rooftops. Many church teams and other organizations are still providing resources and repairs for those that were not insured or did not have the funds."

Martino said he has been impressed with the strong sense of care and community displayed since the hurricane. He hopes that remnant of the storm sticks around.

"Travesties and disasters can bring out the worst sometimes," Martino said. "We saw the best, and none of us will forget the teamwork and love that prevailed as a result of Hurricane Harvey."

Read tips from Inteplast about how to prepare for an emergency.

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