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Doctors and nurses at Hermann Hospital evacuate a critically ill patient down powerless escalator stairs. Kathy Hull, manager of Mustang’s Power Rental group, stands ready to help when the need arises.

Pulling Together After Allison

Tropical storm Allison came ashore and moved through Houston on Tuesday night, June 5th. She dumped about two inches of rain on the Bayou City, then headed off to the northeast. On Friday night, Allison came back – with a vengeance. Downtown Houston, especially the Texas Medical Center was hardest hit. Thirty three inches of rain from Allison was measured by one downtown gauge. Flooding was a given; it became a question of how high would the water get.

In northwest Houston, Mustang Power Systems rental manager Kathy Hull got her first inkling of a problem when her cell phone rang early Saturday morning. A Medical Center customer described the devastation that had occurred there. He had no power and wondered if Mustang could help. Kathy promised to get right on it. She called sales rep Larry Lambert, and asked him to meet her at the office.

Getting into Mustang’s office at I-10 and Washington Ave. proved to be a challenge, with most of the access roads under water. Kathy and Larry were able to get in by going up Memorial to Westcott. "When you drove on Westcott over I-10," she remembers, "it really sunk in what devastation Allison had inflicted. People were sitting on the banks, watching their cars disappearing under the flooded roadway. In some places, only the tops of tractor-trailer rigs were still visible."

When they arrived at Mustang, they discovered the after hours answering service had lost electric power. "Fortunately, our phones were still operational,’ says Kathy, "so we brought them back on line and began calling our customers, assuming that some of them had been trying to reach us. Many of our client contacts had made it in to their buildings, so we were able to determine what their situations were. Many times, those who had the power they needed referred us to others they knew of who were not so fortunate."

Moving equipment to where it was needed was no small task. Many roads were impassable; in some situations, the only way in was to use arteries not designed for the loads they were carrying. "Our trucks were treated as emergency vehicles by the Houston police," says Kathy, "who were very helpful in getting us where we needed to go."

It was then reported there was no diesel available in town, all the local sources were under water. Those gensets currently operational required diesel fuel to keep going. Mustang’s yard inventory was fueled up, and their 4,000 gallon diesel supply had just been replenished. "We called our supplier, Moffat Fuel," says Kathy, "offering to let them take diesel from our tanks to supply our customers and theirs. We asked them to prioritize the medical center for their deliveries, which they had no problem with."

The water began receding Saturday afternoon, finally allowing access to some of the worst situations. Kathy couldn’t say enough about the work of her people and the community: "We’re very fortunate to have some of the best technicians in the industry supporting our units. The entire service department spent that weekend getting Houston back up and running again. And that’s how I think everybody looked at it - pulling together not just as a company, but as a community. Our service techs were wading in water down in the medical center where a lot of experimental research was going on. It was really kind of a scary place to be.

We all had to get our Tetanus shots when it was over. And there were many others down there with us: electricians, dehumidification people, clean up crews - everybody pulling together with the attitude ‘We have to do this.’ It’s what being part of a community is all about."

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