TALLAHASSEE, Fla.—Hurricane Ian, which slammed into Southwest Florida packing 100 mile-per-hour-plus winds, killing six so far, could have been much tougher on credit unions, according to an early report from the League of Southeastern CUs.
LSCU CEO Patrick La Pine told CUToday.info the effects of the storm, while tough on Floridians, could have been much worse on credit unions.
Hurricane Ian crossed northeast across the state and is now approaching the southeastern coast of Georgia and the Carolinas. Portions of Central Florida have been hit particularly hard, and tens of thousands remain without power.
“As you can see from the news, the pictures are horrible,” said La Pine. “But the silver lining is that when it looked like Ian it was going to hit Tampa Bay hard it could have been so much worse overall.”
“We have a large number of credit unions in that part of Florida,” explained La Pine. “The storm went past the Tampa Bay area and then up to Sarasota, and we don't have a lot of credit unions there. We have some credit unions that have individual branches there, but for the most part we really dodged a bullet, from a credit union perspective. The storm passed through large areas in which we don’t have many credit union offices, and then it downgraded.”
Still Early
La Pine said the reports from credit unions are still coming in, adding it is too early to accurately assess all of the damage. He noted that Suncoast CU and Lake Michigan CU have both reported to the league they have been impacted by Ian.
“Around 10:00 a.m. (Thursday) morning we began contacting credit unions in the impacted areas asking them for their status and how they are doing,” said La Pine. “Credit unions up in the Tampa and Sarasota areas look, overall, in pretty good shape. We do have a couple credit unions that are going to be significantly impacted down in that Fort Myers and then south areas, one being Suncoast, as they have a lot of locations down there. We’ve spoken with their CEO who is trying to assess the situation.”
Seeking to Coordinate Relief
La Pine said the Southeastern Disaster Coordinating Council, which includes LSCU and other members of the credit union movement, is working to assess the situation at credit unions and coordinate relief efforts.
La Pine added that credit unions with mobile branches are preparing to get those vehicles on the road.