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Uh Oh!! (Do you have your business evacuation plan in order?)

By
Real Estate Broker/Owner with Pogo Realty, LLC BROK.0005690708

It's a nervous morning here in the Big Easy with all eyes on Gustav, however, something is different! I turned on our local morning show to learn that the city of New Orleans and surrounding areas are already beginning to evacuation and preparedness plans into motion. Unlike the days leading up Katrina, I've stopped grumbling and gloating about how many storms I've been through, and I too have evacuation plans at the ready for my home and business.

The biggest is backup backup backup! I don't subscribe to the online backup programs, probably the smartest and easiest thing to do, so today I'll be scanning and saving a lot of important file stuff that I never got around to. Then I'll be backing up my laptop onto disks and thumb drives just to be safe (we should all be doing this anyway...I, for one, have not).

My broker has a plan in place so that we can all report in and give our whereabouts and I'll be submitting my plan and information for that. I'm contacting all my current clients, not to be alarmist, but to let them know what's up (you'd be surprised how many folks wanted to see property as Katrina approached). Also, I want to check on my youngest and oldest clients and those not very familiar with all of this to make sure they'll be safe.

In the event of actual exacuation, we have been asked to remove keys from lockboxes of listings, remove signs and put them inside the houses so that they don't become dangerous missles in the wind, and finally take business cards, real estate license, anything that may help you get back into limited access areas after the storm.

Finally, I'm going to take a unique and irreplaceable picture out of my office, taken on a bright, sunny Mardi Gras morning years ago that makes me laugh every time I see it. I hope Gustav misses us, but if it doesn't I'll be in New York state looking at that picture and waiting to return to a sunny day just like that one.

I'm glad we're operating in "just in case" mode. That phrase qualifies a lot of what I say post-Katrina. I'm certainly more cautious than I used to be. I'm optimistic that we won't need to enact all of this, but I'm also very happy that there are plans in place this time artound. Keep safe everyone!

Posted by

Troy Jowers, New Orleans Realtor
Proudly brokered by Crescent City Living, LLC
Licensed in Louisiana

Comments (3)

Myrl Jeffcoat
Sacramento, CA
Greater Sacramento Realtor - Retired

Troy - While watching what New Orleans endured with Katrina, I never once thought about business data that was likely lost.  It is certainly important for those of you to ponder for future "stop-loss" activity.

Your suggestion of a thumb drive isn't bad.  One important item I have, is a portable external hard-drive.  It's called a "Free Agent."  The model I have is 500 Gigabytes.  It's really quite small - about 8" x 8" square, and about an inch thick.  It plug into a USB, simply and painlessly.

Good luck to you!

Aug 27, 2008 12:45 AM
Troy Jowers
Pogo Realty, LLC - New Orleans, LA
New Orleans Realtor

Myrl, I'll definately look into the external hard drive. Fast easy is the key in these situations!

Aug 27, 2008 05:40 AM
Mary Strang
Viroqua, WI

As my husband and I are watching the new on TV this morning, I thought I would check to see what is being said by AR members who live and work New Orleans. Your evacuation plan is very well organized, and would be useful in any disaster situation. We hope you can return quickly without major losses and damage!

Sep 01, 2008 02:20 AM