The 2005 hurricane season emerged as the busiest ever recorded. A total of 23 named storms have formed by early November, causing 11 federal disaster declarations. The most storms ever-recorded prior to 2005 was 21 in 1933.
"The 2005 hurricane season has established new records for the most named storms and hurricanes in a single year," NOAA's Monthly Tropical Weather Summary reported.
Three storms that formed during the 2005 season were particularly destructive: Katrina, Rita and Wilma.
This special report focuses on the damage caused by these storms and the recovery efforts that are now underway along the gulf coast of the United States. Katrina was by far the most destructive storm to hit. It devastated parts of Louisiana, Alabama and Mississippi when it made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Aug. 29. Total damage estimates now place Katrina as the costliest natural disaster to occur in the United States, with an estimated $40 billion in insurance losses.
Rita, which struck along the Texas and Louisiana coastlines on Sept. 24, and Wilma, which hit southern Florida on Oct. 24, are estimated to have a combined cost of $20 billion in insured losses. Both hurricanes were Category 3 storms when they made landfall.

“Heart of the City is Gone”
Small Business Struggle to Rebuild After Katrina

“Indescribable” is the word New Orleans lawyer Billy Glennon uses for the damage he sees in the city since Katrina hit in late August. “I can’t describe how devastated these neighborhoods are.”
Glennon’s leased office space and his home were destroyed by floodwaters that sat stagnant for six weeks.
Glennon, a criminal and person injury lawyer, evacuated with his family on Saturday, Aug. 28, the day before Katrina devastated his native city. Expecting to return in days, Glennon took a backup of his hard drive and not much else as he waited out the storm in Macon, Ga.
“We packed like we were going away for a weekend,” he said. “That’s what we’d been accustomed to doing when evacuating for hurricanes.”
This was not a normal evacuation. For three weeks, Glennon struggled to work from Georgia, borrowing computers where possible and using public Internet access to contact clients, courts and more. Cell phone coverage was sporadic, leaving text messaging as the best method for staying in touch.
Eventually, Glennon returned to Louisiana to stay with relatives. A laptop computer he ordered right after he evacuated arrived; he re-entered his business site to retrieve client files and he was back in business. Two months after Katrina struck, Glennon conducts his law business from his dining room table in a rented apartment. Though the city courts were closed for weeks, Glennon was able to commute to courts in Baton Rouge and other cities to represent his clients.
Glennon did not have flood insurance for his business – and technically it did not flood – since the office was located on the second floor. But four-feet of water that sat for weeks on the first floor caused mold and structural damage. The building is uninhabitable and Glennon is not sure when or where his law firm will eventually land.
“This was not a normal flood that goes down in a day or two. This one went down on day 42. The rules change when you are faced with a flood like that,” he said.
Reflecting on his journey since Katrina hit, Glennon counts himself as one of the lucky ones. Though he’s encountered numerous problems along the way, he is able to stay in business. That’s not the case for thousands of business owners in the city.
“Small businesses are in deep, deep trouble,” he said. “Mostly they lease; and most don’t have flood insurance. People were under insured or were told they didn’t need flood coverage. Now the funding is just not there to rebuild.”
Glennon said about 200 restaurants and stores have reopened in the area. They are operating shorter hours and are facing a shortage of staff members.
“There are plenty of jobs here,” said Glennon. “But there’s no place to live.”
About 70 percent of the local housing market was damaged by floodwaters or wind.
Ralph Brennan, a New Orleans restaurant owner, told the House Committee on Small Business a similar tale, which was initially reported on Inc.com.
“One of my biggest challenges is to find employees. Many have not come back to the city or have found employment elsewhere,” he said in the published report.
Across the Gulf Coast, as many as 200,000 small businesses were closed. In the New Orleans region, some 71,000 businesses were affected. According to the 2002 Census nearly 90 percent of New Orleans-area residents were employed by small businesses. Their annual payroll reached $7.75 billion in New Orleans.
Now, that workforce is scattered across the country. Some 400,000 residents evacuated from the region and have not returned.
“There are only 50,000 people sleeping in this city,” said Glennon. “That’s incredible for a city that once housed 500,000.”
Many of those in the city are construction workers, service contractors and government workers, said Glennon. There are very few evacuees who have permanently returned.
Glennon said most of those in the city without jobs are surviving on unemployment claims, savings and FEMA assistance. Nearly 300,000 unemployment claims have been filed in New Orleans since Katrina hit.
Some business owners are receiving loans through the Small Business Administration, but that is a small percentage.
“There has not been a lot of assistance to businesses,” said Glennon. “The SBA had only approved 100 loans in the first 60 days.”
According to Michael J. Olivier, Louisiana Economic Development Department secretary, the SBA approved only 1.8 percent of 12,000 loan applications in the first 100 days.
“That’s unacceptable. An unprecedented storm takes an unprecedented response,” Olivier said in a published Advocate report.
The state of Louisiana approved ‘bridge’ loans to 400 applicants within nine days, depleting the $10 million budget for the program. A bridge loan is a 180-day, no-interest loan that provides short-term financing until a long-term arrangement can be found. Louisiana Governor Kathleen Blanco has requested an additional $200 million in bridge loan funding from the federal government.
In recent weeks, changes in federal assistance may ease the burden for business owners and others in Katrina-ravaged areas.
The SBA has relaxed some requirements for loan applications, including waiving the need to file three-years worth of tax returns and monthly sales analyses. Additional workers have been hired to process loans, making total employment for the agency near 4000. The agency is also beginning a campaign to seek volunteers from financial communities.
FEMA officials have announced that the maximum relief aid possible would be awarded to people in neighborhoods that were destroyed by Katrina. Renters and property owners in nine parishes and counties in Louisiana and Mississippi will receive as much as $26,200. The distribution of funds will be based on satellite imagery of the worst flooding and storm damage.
Blanco is also proposing legislation to help businesses return to the Louisiana gulf coast. She recently outlined tax break proposals to help ease the burden companies are facing when returning to business.
“Why, some may ask, would we deepen our budget problems with tax breaks? Because, getting our businesses back to work will speed recovery,” she said in an Associated Press report.
Blanco is also calling for a strengthened statewide building code, an overhaul of the school systems and improvement for the levee system.
New Orleans lawyer Glennon sees the levee systems as key components in rebuilding the city of New Orleans.
“Why build here?” he said. “Without strong levees, you can’t be sure your business will be protected. Without strong levees, you can’t get insurance. Businesses are in limbo.”
The Corps of Engineers has only committed to rebuilding Category 3 levees, something Glennon finds unacceptable for his beloved city.
“New Orleans is in my blood,” he said. “It’s where I do business and raise my family. I’m staying, but I don’t know how many others will.
“Seventy-five percent of the city is gone. It’s gone. Small restaurants, grocery stores all gone. The heart of the city is gone.”

Rita’s Recovery Efforts Underway in Texas and Louisiana

While many businesses are back to business in parts of Texas and Louisiana that were hit by Hurricane Rita on Sept. 24, some are still waiting for business loans and insurance payments before they can rebuild their businesses.
Rita, the 17th named storm of the season, struck near the Texas-Louisiana border, devastating several areas, including Cameron Parish, Orange County and Port Arthur. Schools and universities were closed for two to four weeks. Small businesses suffered a severe blow; many are now caught in limbo as they wait to process loan and insurance paperwork.
By the end of October, only 10 to 25 percent of employers had reopened in the cities of Beaumont, Port Arthur and Orange, Texas, said Rick Barrilleaux, the director of economic development at the Greater Beaumont Chamber of Commerce in a USA Today report.
“Almost every business here has incurred some damage,” said Barrilleaux.
Since Rita hit, more than 10 percent of the region’s yearly $25 billion revenue has been lost, said the USA Today report.
As of November 1, the Small Business Administration had approved more than $292 million in loans for 4,354 individuals and businesses affected by hurricanes. No breakdown has been provided on a per hurricane basis.
Nine refineries located near Beaumont were temporarily without power. Four refineries remained non-operational for two weeks following Rita’s strike. Rita cut the flow of crude oil from the Gulf of Mexico; production was halted and platforms were evacuated. No long-term damage was reported to the petrochemical plants in the Texas Gulf Coast area, nor were any highway infrastructures severely damaged.
Only one death was reported from Hurricane Rita. Approximately three million residents were evacuated from the coastline, saving many lives as the storm hit landfall with winds reaching 120 miles per hour. The evacuation caused numerous traffic problems and gas shortages as millions left the populated city of Houston. The return trip into the area reported far fewer problems.
FEMA has inspected more than 150,000 buildings in Texas since Rita struck. They are using a work force of more than 900 inspectors to expedite the process. More than 460,000 people applied for disaster assistance in Texas, resulting in $480 million in FEMA aid approved.
Rita left some 1.4 million were without power. By Oct. 11, more than 95% had their power restored by Entergy, the power company that serviced the area.
In Louisiana, Lake Charles received heavy damage and flooding from a 15-foot storm surge. Floodwaters were nine foot deep near the town of Abbeville, La. An estimated 80 percent of buildings in Cameron, La., were destroyed. Hundreds of residents along the Louisiana coastline were rescued by boat or helicopter.
In total, Hurricane Rita displaced 10,000 firms in the parishes in southwest Louisiana, said a report in The Advocate. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Blue Roof Program reports that just over 27,500 roofs damaged by Hurricane Rita have received temporary coverings.
Overall, recoveries in areas affected by Rita are progressing. Considering the magnitude of the storm, many are grateful to have not suffered worse damage.
“It looks crummy now, but we’ll be back,” said George Taylor, an insurance agent and manager of a damaged condominium unit, in a USA Today report.

Wilma’s Blow Softened By Previous Hurricane Preparations

Officials in Southern Florida are optimistic about the recovery efforts underway after Hurricane Wilma caused major damage when she struck landfall on Oct. 24. Wilma barreled across the peninsula, dropping torrential rain and packing winds exceeding 100 miles per hour.
More than six million were without power; at least 26 people were killed, and numerous residences and businesses were damaged. Particularly hard hit were the Broward, Palm Beach and Miami-Dade counties. Several Fort Lauderdale and Miami skyscrapers and office buildings had windows blown out. Flooding was also a problem in many areas. The storm surge submerged 40 percent of the Florida Keys.
Broward Economic Development Director Norm Taylor said he is confident of a strong recovery for the county after the initial disaster cleanup. He made the statement in a Sun-Sentinal report published shortly after Wilma struck.
While some businesses suffered structural damage, the loss of power was cited as the main business interruption. Power outages struck nearly 98 percent of Southern Florida. Florida Power and Light reported outages in 42 Florida counties, a record-breaking number for the company.
“With the power off and the customers not coming in to a business, it’s hard to keep running with the normal contingent of employees,” said Bob Swindell, senior vice president of business development at the Broward Alliance in a published Sun-Sentinel newspaper report.
Nearly 60 percent of businesses in Broward and Palm Beach counties reported loss of power and 50 percent reported no phone service within the first week after Wilma struck. The poll was conducted via a survey sent to nearly 2200 businesses by the Sun-Sentinel newspaper.
By Nov. 6, Florida Power and Light had restored power to 38 counties, but some 350,000 customers were still without power. Full restoration is expected to be completed by mid-November.
Throughout the region, schools were closed, buildings were damaged and gas shortages were reported. Still, it could have been worse, said many residents in the affected areas. They credit recovery work done after two hurricanes hit the area in 2004 as minimizing damage from Wilma.
Hurricane Frances caused nearly $28 million in damage and Hurricane Jeanne caused almost $58 million in damage when they struck the southern gulf coast of Florida in 2004.
Reconstruction work completed after those storms helped to strengthen many structures in the area, allowing Wilma to do less damage.
“The commercial property estimate is low because many of the commercial properties were destroyed last year. They were rebuilt to higher standards and made it through Wilma,” said Robert Lecky, building official for Jupiter, Fla., in a Palm Beach Post report.
Long-term effects businesses will face from Wilma include higher costs of materials, personnel issues, including loss of employees who may face residential damage, and higher insurance fees.
The fishing and produce industries were particularly hard-hit. Boats, docks and walkways throughout the area were destroyed by Wilma’s destruction. The wind and rain also devastated Florida’s fruit and vegetable crops. The agriculture industry is expected to have losses nearing one billion dollars.
Officials are also working to restore the tourism industry in the area. Early estimates put the loss at $40 million.

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