Hurricane Ida Affects Business at Exchanges in Gulf States, but Damage is Minimal
On Sunday, 16 years to the day after Hurricane Katrina caused destruction along the Gulf Coast, Hurricane Ida made landfall as a Category 4, causing power failures and wreaking havoc, especially in Mississippi and Louisiana.
As of Monday morning, Keesler Air Force Base on the Mississippi Coast was the installation most affected by the storm, which had been downgraded to a tropical depression. Keesler suffered extensive damage during Katrina, including $4 million in damages to the Exchange, which had to be completely rebuilt.
The Keesler Air Force Base Exchange suffered no damage during Hurricane Ida, although the base was heavily affected by the storm.
Weather conditions and road closures made getting to the Keesler Exchange, which was closed Sunday and Monday, difficult. But by shortly after 3 p.m. Central, Keesler Exchange General Manager Madeline Salazar was able to report that there was no damage to the food court or to the exterior of the Exchange.
“Most of the associates have contacted me,” Salazar said earlier. “They are doing OK, but we do have some that are still with no power. Others had to evacuate. I’ve heard that some of their houses have flooded.”
By the afternoon, all associates were accounted for.
The Camp Shelby Troop Store, part of the Keesler Exchange, was also closed Monday. As of 9:30 a.m. Central, most associates at the store had reported that they were OK. The Thompson Field Exchange was also closed.
Other stores in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama were less affected. Although the storm hit hardest in Louisiana, it veered to the east enough that it didn’t affect Fort Polk, roughly 230 miles northwest of New Orleans, or Barksdale Air Force Base, near Shreveport in the northwestern part of the state.
“We were prepared for the worst,” said Ron McDuffie, general manager at Fort Polk, which endured two hurricanes during fiscal 2020. “Excellent support was provided by the HQ fuel team, Disaster Support Group and Merchandising with emergency supplies.”
Logistics delivered a freezer trailer to Fort Polk in case of a power outage as well as an emergency supply of water, and IT helped put 20-gallon fueling limits in place.
Barksdale General Manager Ellen Henderson reported a 40% increase in customer traffic during the weekend, and although she couldn’t say whether that was directly attributable to evacuees, many evacuees found shelter in Shreveport.
“One of the major parks north of the installation has about 400 evacuees, and there are about 200 in a shelter in Shreveport,” she said. “Every hotel, motel, resort in the area is sold out of hotel rooms.”
There were no operational changes expected at Columbus Air Force Base, about 270 miles north of Keesler in Mississippi, or at Redstone Arsenal in northern Alabama, according to East Central Region Vice President Beth Goodman-Bluhm.
Maxwell Air Force Base and Fort Rucker, also in Alabama, were expected to be business as usual, although rain, occasionally heavy, was forecast for the area.
