Thinking of Texas at This Time
Annual Conference in Houston
As the Gulf Coast of Texas mounts an evacuation in anticipation of Hurricane Ike, I am reminded of my last visit to that area. The occasion was a series of workshops I delivered on small business disaster preparedness for the Small Business Development Centers in San Angelo, El Paso, Laredo and San Antonio. It was a coming home of sorts for me because I was first introduced to the ASBDC network when I spoke at their annual conference in Houston in 2006. The local events in Texas were fantastic and attended by the mayors of the cities, the chiefs of police and fire services, presidents of the local Red Cross chapters, commissioner of public health and other officials. One of the points that was made very clearly was that over the course of a 30-year mortgage, you have a 26% chance of a flood versus a 9% chance of a fire. In addition, in any given year, 30% of the homes and businesses that flood are in areas that have never before experienced a flood. This is an alarming figure, because many homeowners and small business owners mistakenly believe that their insurance policies cover flood damage and they don’t (you have to purchase flood insurance separately).
This is a major source of concern for state insurance commissioners. I was recently interviewed on The Family Breakfast Show of WICC-AM to discuss flood risks for small businesses. The following day, the scheduled guest for the program was the insurance commissioner of Connecticut, as in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Fay, there is a need to educate the public about flood risks.
The other significant challenge that Texas faces is that for evacuees, all roads lead to San Antonio. At these workshops in 2007, emergency officials discussed the likelihood that as many as 1.5 million Texans may have to be evacuated from the Gulf Coast area in anticipation of a major hurricane. However, San Antonio has only 30,000 beds available in its entire hotel and hospitality industry. In Prepare for the Worst, Plan for the Best, I had discussed my work with Peg Callahan and Deidre Patillo of the San Antonio Small Business Development Centers. They are certainly in my prayers at this difficult time.