Hurricane Irene Update
Monday, August 29, 2011
Hurricane Irene pummeled the East Coast from North Carolina to Vermont over the weekend. Thankfully it weakened as it moved north from the NC Coast into the mid-Atlantic, but many experienced very heavy rains which resulted in some pretty dramatic flooding, heavy winds that toppled many trees and loss of power for over 4 million households.
As far as our dealerships are concerned, based on what we know at this point, we did not experience any serious damage other than some flooding, downed trees and isolated issues. It appears that all of our operations will reopen today although we have recorded power problems in Freehold, NJ, Massapequa, NY and Annapolis, MD. If you work at one of these locations please contact you supervisor.
Our biggest concern is how our employees faired the storm. We are likely to hear that some have suffered severe damage to their homes. As our employees report in and if they face catastrophic damage, we will offer them assistance through the Group 1 Foundation. The Foundation was established through the generosity of our employees following Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Since that time, the Foundation has helped many employees recover from hurricanes, tornados, wild fires, floods and catastrophic accidents. We may “power up” some fundraising support for the Foundation in the near future to help our employees in the mid-Atlantic and North East so that we can show them they are not alone when trouble strikes.
Flooding from Hurricane Irene below…
Andover Accounting Office
Sunday, August 28, 2011
The Andover accounting office will be open for normal business hours on Monday, August 29th.
Hurricane Irene Update
Friday, August 26, 2011
It appears that Irene is still on track to run up the Eastern Seaboard and threaten many of the communities we work and live in. According to the National Weather Service, at 8:00 AM EDT the center of Hurricane Irene was located off the northern coast of Florida and moving North at 14 mph. It's expected to move northward for the next 24 hours then turn slightly north-north-east. This will cause it to pass near or over the NC coast Saturday and move over the mid- Atlantic Coast Saturday night. If you are in the path of the storm and you haven't made final preparations, now is the time!
Communication
In order to enhance communications with our team members after the storm we have powered up a Facebook page since cell phones are often inefficient when trying to communicate to groups of people. Toward that end, the established Facebook page to facilitate communication is Group 1 Hurricane Irene; Click here. This page will serve as a centralized place for two way communication with our employees. We plan to post a number of things on the page including store status, plans to reopen, does store have power, status of employees, needs for employees and our dealerships, what to tell customers, etc. Daryl Kenningham, our Market Directors and GM's will use this page to post store updates and our employees could post questions and concerns.
In addition to this Facebook page, we will continue to communicate on this website www.group1home.com and you can call our offices in Houston at 1-888-477-1288.
Good luck with your storm preparations, we will be in touch!
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Hurricane Irene Poised to Visit Mid-Atlantic and North East
Thursday, August 25, 2011
If it's one thing Group 1 has, its experience in dealing with Hurricanes. With so many locations along the Atlantic and Gulf Coast, many of our associates have learned lessons on how to deal with these storms - both before and after the event. As a company, we initiated planning for the hurricane season in May of this year and we have now activated our response plan for Irene. If you are in the targeted area of this storm, you should be preparing personally as well. If you are not in the targeted area, please wish your co-workers on the Eastern seaboard best of luck!
Communication
One of the major challenges posed by a storm is communication. At Group 1 we will be using this website (www.group1home.com ) to communicate with those employees that are impacted by the storm. We will try and provide you up-to-date information about your dealership condition, coworkers, and recovery operations as information becomes available. We are also activating our 800 number for answers and assistance effective Monday morning. If you are impacted by the storm you can call 1-888-477-1288 to obtain answers or seek assistance (please copy this website address and number down to take home). In addition to these measures, we will be sending out employee contact lists to your general managers so they may call you. You might exchange cell phone numbers with your supervisor and co-workers and discuss how you will check in after the storm. Big hint - cell phones may be tied up, texting usually works well.
Outlook
It appears that the storm is trending west of its predicted path from yesterday, so our associates in Annapolis, New Jersey, New York (Long Island), Massachusetts and New Hampshire need to be prepared. The good news is that the storm may weaken as it spends more time over land, so for some of you it will be a heavy rain event. By the way, we in Texas will take all the rain you want to send our way! Two great sites for tracking the storm's progress are:
National Hurricane Center - http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/
Weather Underground - http://www.wunderground.com/
We will update this site tomorrow with additional information.
Question
According to Wal-Mart, what are the two most popular items purchased in preparation for a hurricane? Answer below
Answer- Beer and Poptarts
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