Motorcoaches move from hurricane rescue to recovery

As responders to Hurricanes Harvey and Irma passed from emergency and evacuation services to long-term recovery, many of the hundreds of motorcoaches that assisted in rescue efforts continued to transport victims and support teams well into last month.

Residents evacuated from the path of Hurricane Harvey continued to return to their communities to assess their losses, while people who were transported out of the affected areas to the safety of shelters were being transferred to shelters closer to home by motorcoaches.

In Florida and other states struck by Hurricane Irma, cleanup and repairs also continued, and motorcoaches continued to transport government and private responders.

At the peak of the emergency response, 650 buses contracted through Transportation Management Services were at work in Texas, said TMS President Kevin O’Connor. They were provided by 89 carriers in 11 states.

Another 500 buses were deployed to South Carolina but quickly released when Irma caused fewer problems than feared.

Dozens to hundreds of the motorcoaches remained on the job last month.

“The evacuation and recovery work for the states has stopped. We are doing more limited support for FEMA,” O’Connor said.

Buses contracted through TMS made up only a portion of those needed to serve the southeast, he added.

“A lot of operators independently met the needs of nursing homes, hospitals and power companies. Collectively, the industry met a huge demand for equipment at a time of year when there is a scarcity of buses.”

Florida Power & Light continued using charter motorcoaches last month for transportation of repair crews, Florida operators said.

Hurricane Harvey made its first landfall at Texas on August 26 with winds of up to 130 miles per hour and 40 to 50 inches of rainfall over four days. It bounced back over the gulf twice before making its third landfall on Louisiana on August 29.

The storm flooded hundreds of thousands of homes, claimed at least 82 lives and resulted in an estimated $70 billion to $200 billion in economic losses.

The Texas Division of Emergency Management reported that 122,331 people and 5,249 pets had been evacuated or rescued since the first landfall.

Hurricane Irma reached the Florida Keys on Sept. 10 with winds of 130 mph. It struck Marco Island and Naples and weakened as it continued northward over the Florida peninsula and the southeastern U.S.

The Florida Department of Emergency Management estimates that 6.5 million Floridians were ordered to evacuate ahead of the hurricane’s landfall.

Irma resulted in about 50 fatalities in the U.S. and at least $50 billion in property damage.

The Florida government does not arrange for a statewide evacuation fleet but businesses and institutions hired several buses, said Matt Brown, chairman of the Florida Motorcoach Association and general manager of Astro Travel and Tours in Tallahassee.

Southeastern-based motorcoach companies often faced their own problems while assisting others who were in the hurricanes’ paths.

“The last two weeks have been a blur,” said Brian Scott, president of ESCOT Bus Lines, which has facilities in Orlando and Largo, Fla. “Our office was without power for three days. We ran our office on Tuesday (September 12) off a generator to run our phones and a few computers. We had a bus pulled in front of the office to tap into the Wi-Fi.”

The storm left a lot of debris, he said.

“The only damage we received was to the roll-up shop doors at our Largo facility. They were blown in and will need to be replaced.”

Sports and tourism schedules in the Sunshine State obviously were obliterated, Scott said.

“We experienced a significant amount of cancelled and re-scheduled business. However, the emergency work more than made up for what was lost.”

O’Conner of TMS said the response from the motorcoach industry “allowed us to collectively meet the needs we had.”

TMS also wants the drivers to know their hardships were recognized.

“We are paying a stipend to drivers for the nights they spent in their coaches,” O’Connor said. “We are in the process of estimating that. I am thrilled with the response we had from the industry. I am also happy that we are collectively able to think about the needs of the drivers, too.”

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