NEW ORLEANS—With New Orleans in the direct path of Tropical Storm Barry, residents are being urged today to gather three days of supplies and be ready to shelter in place tonight—and a number of credit unions near the Gulf Coast are taking precautions as well.
Tropical Storm Barry is expected to strengthen into a hurricane and cause widespread flooding along the coast on Saturday, bringing with it 65-mile-per-hour winds. Officials are concerned most about large surges of water and torrential downpours. Portions of the Louisiana and Mississippi coast may get up to 20 inches of rain, and there is a high chance of flash flooding in New Orleans and Baton Rouge, officials said.
“We have quite a few branches closing early tonight to prepare for tomorrows landfall,” said Lacey Weaver, senior vice president, member engagement at the Louisiana CU league. “The storm path projection moved a bit to the west, so our credit unions southwest of the state will be hit hard. However, the Mississippi river is extremely high so any amount of rain could put New Orleans in a bad situation. We’re monitoring the situation closely.”
NCUA is urging CUs in the path of Barry to take precautions.
“We are urging credit unions in the path of the storm to take steps to protect their staff and secure their operations,” NCUA Board Chairman Rodney E. Hood said. “The NCUA will be closely monitoring Barry’s progress, and we will be ready to assist credit unions with maintaining or restoring operations, if necessary. Credit unions and members can find information on staying safe from several online resources, and we encourage everyone to be alert for official announcements and media reports as the storm draws near.”
The NCUA maintains a hurricane and disaster information page on its website as well as on the MyCreditUnion.gov consumer information page. The National Hurricane Center has regular updates on the storm as it approaches landfall, and the Department of Homeland Security has an information page on being prepared for hurricanes.
NCUA’s Office of Credit Union Resources and Expansion can provide urgent needs grants of up to $7,500 to low-income credit unions that experience sudden costs to restore operations interrupted by the storm, the agency said.
CU*SOUTH Offering Assistance
CU*SOUTH has activated its Event Response Team to support credit unions along the Gulf Coast. ERT Activation includes:
- Emergency remote access to CU*SOUTH’s South Dakota-based Site-Four DataCenter via direct VPN, in the event a CU’s branch loses power or Internet connectivity
- Media Services rapid-response website and Facebook updates to notify members of branch closings and alternate contact channels
- Collaborative Services including back office processing of ACH and draft forward and return items.
- Call center services for any CU that needs help maintaining phone and IM chat communication with members
- Centralized emergency coordination through CU*SOUTH in the event a CU needs to reach employees as part of their disaster recovery plan
- CTO Advantage recovery services for any PC’s, servers, or other hardware damaged by the storm
“Every year, our CUSO works with credit unions in disaster areas to help them regain their operational capacity as quickly as possible,” said Derrick Smith, chief operating officer at CU*SOUTH. “Last year, we helped credit unions in Florida recover from Hurricane Michael, which had left much of the panhandle without power and phone service for weeks and even months.”