Lake Charles CUs describe their hit from Rita

Lake Charles, La. (10/20/04)--Two credit unions in Lake Charles, located in southwestern Louisiana, and their employees are assessing the impact Hurricane Rita had on their credit unions and lives. And both have come to the same conclusion: Their disaster plans worked, and shared branching enabled them to serve their members during the ordeal.

Click for slide showT.J. Duhon, CEO of Southwest Louisiana CU, Lake Charles, says his credit union was the last financial institution to stay open on Lake Charles on Thursday Sept. 22, before Hurricane Rita hit. "We stayed open til 2 p.m. Hibernia Bank locked down its vault at 11 a.m. We handed over $1 million in hand-to-hand transactions to our members. Everything worked the way it was supposed to." (Photo provided by CUNA)
One leak in the roof was all it took to saturate the carpet and leave water standing when Hurricane Rita hit Southwest Louisiana CU, says T.J. Duhon, president/CEO. "It was just one leak, but it was amazing. The carpet sucked it up, like a sponge," he said. "We had mold in the loan department, and it smelled."

The Westlake office of the credit union sustained more damage, with flashing torn off the roof and three to four inches of water in the building, but no structural damage. "Not one piece of computer equipment was damaged," Duhon said. Each supervisor took their CPUs with them when they evacuated.

After Hurricane Katrina and before Hurricane Rita, the credit union reviewed its disaster plan. Duhon asked his data processor, Galaxy, to upgrade the system, just in case. "We're fortunate we had the disaster plan in place. It held up."

The credit union operated out of Lafayette Schools FCU, which was part of the plan, for nine days. It also joined the shared branching network. "The hurricane hit Saturday, we met in Lafayette on Monday, Tuesday we made phone calls, and by that Friday we were set up in the shared branching program. What normally takes 120 days was done in three days," said Duhon.

Clark Yelverton maintains that his credit union, CSE FCU in Sulfur, La., near Lake Charles, joined the shared branching network, too, "because of Rita" and because "we sure could have helped a lot of people."

CSE FCU's board also discussed its disaster plan before Rita hit the area. "They had given me four months to get a business continuity plan and succession plan going. With Katrina and Rita, we got the hands-on experience. I'm happy with how the plan stood up," said Yelverton.

On the last day of business before Rita struck, the credit union opened early because people were piled up at the door at 7:30 a.m. "Employees had to direct traffic. People wanted money. We were limiting withdrawals to $1,000, but finally had to lower that to $500. We handed out $400,000 in the two hours we were open," Yelverton said.

On a personal note, both CEOs had damage to their homes. Duhon's home lost its roof. "When Katrina hit we had 13 relatives from Slidell staying with us in Welch until Rita. Then they went back to Slidell." Yelverton's home will need a new roof, and some mold cleanup.

Employees at the credit unions also sustained damage to homes. At Southwest Louisiana CU, four employees lost their homes and are staying with relatives. The credit union compensated them double time the first week, and 1 1/2 times the second week. "Every employee was paid for 40 hours whether they worked 40 hours or not," said Duhon.

At CSE, two employees sustained damage to their homes, with one having "a foot of the Gulf in the house," said Yelverton. It left a foot of sludge and marsh mud--and a baby alligator. "They'll fix their homes back up. These people are tough."

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