Page 4 - Volume 13 Number 8
P. 4
Silver Li
Hurricane Katrina leads Rouses
business aviation, transformati
by MeLinda Schnyder
When Hurricane Katrina made landfall in August 2005, it shut down communication and transportation in much of southern Louisiana. The owners of Rouses Markets had no way of knowing what was happening at their 17 supermarkets or with their employees and their communities. There was no cellphone service and flooding caused many road closures.
“We didn’t know if we had stores that were under water, we didn’t know if we had stores that had no power, or stores that were closed because the manager couldn’t get there to open and service customers,” said Donny Rouse, CEO and grandson of the company’s founder; at the time he was handling the family’s real estate developments. “And with so many road closures, we couldn’t just drive to our stores to check on them. So I went by the airport to see if I could get a helicopter to fly around to the stores.”
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