In the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita, organizations large and small in the Gulf Region showed that, while you can prepare for a catastrophic storm, being able to implement your plans still represents unpredictable challenges.

W.W. Grainger, one of the larger MRO distributors in the country, and Selltis, Inc., which specializes in industrial team selling software, are grateful they had plans in place as well as the staffs to implement them—albeit with a bit of improvising under extremely difficult conditions.

When Katrina devastated the region in late August, followed by Rita just a few weeks later, Grainger was in the trenches, getting needed supplies to the impacted areas, all the while assessing damage to its 72 locations throughout the region.

A boost in sales during hurricane season has become a business reality to companies such as Grainger, which has served the Gulf Coast region for 70 years. And given this year's particularly bad storms, the cleanup and re-building process is expected to go on for months—even years—in places like New Orleans and the coast of Mississippi. Despite that scenario, it's too soon to gauge the financial impact of the storms, says Grainger's regional branch service vice president Dave Smetana, who runs the company's Southeast region.

Though business was up at Grainger branches in the wake of the storms, the company lost one branch to Katrina—one of its two New Orleans locations—making it difficult to assess the full financial impact of the disaster, Smetana said.

Grainger's branch on the north side of New Orleans sustained little damage, but as of late September, its south side branch was still under water and was likely to remain closed indefinitely, Smetana said.

In addition to the two New Orleans branches, six other locations felt the brunt of the storms: Baton Rouge, La.; Mobile, Ala.; Jackson, Miss.; Pensacola, Fla.; Beaumont, Texas; and Sulphur, La. All were open within 48 hours of the storms, however.

Also, 34 Grainger employees in the New Orleans area were severely impacted by Katrina, though no one was physically injured, Smetana said. As of late September, 22 of those employees were living with family or friends, and nine were in hotels, but just three were back in their homes. Grainger is working closely with them to help with temporary living expenses and other issues. Employees from the destroyed New Orleans branch are all working at other Grainger locations, Smetana said.

But Grainger employees have been dedicated and resilient throughout the ordeal, Smetana added—a factor he said pleased, but did not surprise, him.

"The Grainger associates have been dedicated, they're passionate, and they're committed to helping out the communities and our customers," he said in a Sept. 29 interview. "When you think what our associates have been through...In some cases, they really didn't know if their homes were intact, yet they were at work, serving our customers."

Relief teams helped alleviate the pressure on local employees. Volunteers from Grainger locations throughout the country were sent to man the branches soon after the storms, so that local employees could deal with personal business.

"It's just been incredible, the response of our team. They went above and beyond the call of duty," Smetana said. "We have employee relief teams that are sleeping on the floor, in motor homes, and not asking, 'When can I go home?' but, 'What can I do next?'"

Smetana pointed to two stories in particular that illustrate the dedication of his company's associates.

Bo Winter, an account manager in Mobile, was working at a local branch helping unload trailers in the wake of Katrina when he received a call from a local hospital. The caller said the hospital's power was intermittent and that they needed supplies, but no one could come and get them. Winter took the order over the phone, pulled the product, loaded it into his car and delivered to the hospital—making sure each order got to the right department.

In Houston, a local Grainger branch manager was making his way out of town following the mandatory evacuation order just before Rita hit. He'd gone 18 miles in three hours when he received a call from a local hospital asking for generators and other supplies in anticipation of the storm. His response was to turn around, head back into Houston, and get the product to the customer. With no time left to evacuate, the manager ended up riding out the storm at home.

"He put his personal safety at risk to deliver product to the hospital," Smetana said, adding that helping first responders is a priority for Grainger in times of tragedy. "It's relationships like that that are critically important."

As of late September, Smetana said he was seeing improvement in the region. With the exception of New Orleans, there was a shift in supplies needed, from generators, pumps and cleaning supplies to motors, tools and equipment, suggesting that the re-building phase was under way.

Brian Gardner is president and co-founder of Selltis, which specializes in industrial team selling software at its headquarters in Mandeville, La., 24 miles across Lake Pontchartrain, due north of New Orleans.

As a member of the business community, he's been involved in various charitable fundraisers and outreaches in his career, "but I've never been on this side of the outreach before," Gardner said after Katrina hit. "You just think nothing like this would ever happen."

As a resident of New Orleans' Jefferson Parish, he joined the millions whose lives have been impacted and overwhelmed in the aftermath and recovery efforts.

Speaking from Alexandria, in central Louisiana, where he, his wife and three children have relocated, he said he's grateful that his house, just a few feet above sea level on the shores of Lake Pontchartrain, was still standing. But he and his family weren't planning to move back until mid-October at the earliest, he said.

Like many area residents, he's still grasping the enormity of the damage and the necessary rebuilding. Some neighborhoods will have to be completely bulldozed, he said. Elsewhere, top soil will have to be removed due to contamination concerns. Some associates have been told that they may not get back into their neighborhoods for as long as four months—if their houses are still there.

The side of the lake where he resides "took a big hit from the wind," he said. "Wind was the big issue there. I never saw so many trees down in my life....One friend of mine had between 75 and 100 downed trees across his yard."

All Selltis employees are accounted for, but he said 50 percent had extensive damage to their property.

"So everyone's scattered around. We had a couple of employees who pretty much lost everything. Their houses just washed away," Gardner said.

While property and personal damage was foremost, Gardner and Selltis also had to face up to business realities, despite the severity of the storm. Selltis had taken precautions and had a contract with an Internet provider in Birmingham, Ala., in case of a catastrophe. As a result, clients could still get most of their work done, Gardner explained, although their ability to synchronize certain changes and updates was limited.

Gardner spent much of his time following the hurricanes calling clients, reassuring them that their data was safe and secure. In fact, Selltis servers were up and operating on the Tuesday after Labor Day—making for some reassured clients, many of whom had visions of not having data access for weeks.

Gardner said that Selltis had to move its servers out of its offices the weekend following Katrina. But just physically moving the servers into U-Haul vans was a difficult task. Gasoline was hard to find. Gardner and his fellow movers managed to fill up cans and transport them to gas up the vans. They even got National Guard permission to enter the area only five days after the hurricane.

Moving day "was the eeriest feeling in the world," he recalled. "Trees were down, buildings and billboards, no one on the streets—and then there's Black Hawk helicopters flying around looking for looters while we're loading up these U-Hauls."

Gardner had to take his three children out of their New Orleans schools and get them into the educational system in Alexandria.

Having children, of course, adds a different perspective on many things, over and above business considerations.

"We've told the kids that when we do get the green light to go back in, it's not going to be the way it was. No playgrounds, recreational sports may be out for the next four to six months. We were fortunate in that we didn't have flood water where we were, while maybe two or three miles away, they did.... It's not going to be the way it was."

His 6- and 11-year-old children are pretty resilient, he explained. But his oldest, a girl in high school, has had a more challenging adjustment.

"She's a junior and her school was wiped out in the storm," he said. "And she realizes now that a majority of her friends won't be coming back to school. Their parents have moved to jobs elsewhere."

Along with this is concern about available teachers, many of whom have spouses whose jobs may have been eliminated or sent to satellite locations and offices, Gardner pointed out. And the teachers still there will be focusing on their own housing conditions, or lack thereof.

Most of Selltis' clients are outside of New Orleans, he explained, but many of those who are in the area have moved to satellite offices, such as in Houston or Baton Rouge. Smaller companies without satellite offices will have a difficult time ever re-opening, Gardner fears.

New Orleans, of course, is well known for its convention and tourism business—or was, anyway. Convention and tourism authorities have advised visitors to stay away from the Crescent City until at least the end of the year. Its convention center is closed for renovations until April of 2006.

"I think it would be six months to a year minimum before few, if any, tourists start to return," he said. "But I believe in the long haul—by that I mean five to 10 years—New Orleans can be a better city."

Gardner can still maintain a sense of humor about certain things. He left New Orleans optimistically hoping for only a long weekend away to wait out the storm.

"I first came up here to Alexandria with nothing but a couple of t-shirts and few pair of shorts!" he laughs now, putting things in perspective.