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September 9. 2005

To our valued suppliers and concerned friends,

Let me begin by thanking all of you who have offered assistance and words of comfort. The emails are too numerous to respond to individually. We are deeply touched by the outpouring of support.

I want to take this opportunity to bring you, our valued supplier partners, up-to-date with current developments, and to ask for your support.

Two of our associates remain unaccounted for. We continue to aggressively pursue all options to locate them. At this point we have confirmed that six of our coworkers have lost their homes; we expect this number to increase significantly as more information becomes available. Many others have experienced severe damage. Most of our staff is still displaced and spread throughout the Southeast. Some have been fortunate enough to find housing with friends or relatives; others are living in Red Cross shelters.

The floodwaters that have inundated most of New Orleans have not receded enough to allow a close-up visual inspection of our headquarters location. We must rely on satellite imagery, helicopter views, and eyewitness accounts from emergency personnel to determine the condition of our buildings. All indications are that our main store and administrative offices may be a total loss. Additionally, our entire delivery fleet is underwater. 

Our computer system is currently inoperative. Our software provider is attempting to restore our business systems to a newly purchased server. In the meantime, we are conducting business in our Mandeville branch using manual systems. We plan to have an additional location in Jefferson, the adjoining western suburb of New Orleans, operational in two weeks.

We are experiencing a challenge that may be unprecedented in our industry, The Armstrong’s Supply family is committed to surviving this catastrophe and being a key participant in the rebuilding of New Orleans and our region.

I will be sending each of our supplier partners an email that specifically details our current needs and includes contact numbers and addresses .Please feel free to contact me to discuss our needs and plans for recovery. 

Thank you for your continued prayers and support.

Scott Armstrong
President and CEO
Armstrong’s Supply Company, Inc.

Click here for our supplier update of August 31, 2005

• 10/20/05 - 7:30 AM CDT -  Wow, where do we begin? The last month has been a blur, with situations changing on a daily basis. Here is an abbreviated update of happenings within the company:

  • Jefferson - The Jefferson branch opened for business September 30. Our main hurdle has been getting the word of our opening out to the customer base (we didn't have phone service for the first week of operation.) Stock shipments are FINALLY starting to arrive with some regularity, and customer volume is increasing by the day. Each day is highlighted by a handful of "reunions", as customers and friends return to the area and make their way to the new location. We continue to operate without computers, but our "old school" manual systems are proving to be adequate for the moment.

  • Mandeville - Back to "business as usual." in Mandeville. The initial rush on service equipment has ended, and most contractors are reverting back to their normal daily operations. We still have no phone service in the new building and administrative offices (thanks for the "prompt" service, Bellsouth!)  Our server is running in Mandeville but is unable to be connected to Jefferson.

  • New Orleans - It took 48 days for our flood adjuster to make it to the New Orleans building for the first on-site loss assessment. The final verdicts on the structural status of the building and the prospects for repair are not yet in. We continue to recover undamaged materials that were significantly above the water line, but the majority of the most valuable inventory is lost. 

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• 9/27/05 - 8:30 PM CDT -  Additional members of the ASC family have returned to area to check on their homes (if possible.) In the past week, Erin, Ron, Kathleen, Phyllis, Joe, Eddie, and Clyde have made it back to the Metro New Orleans area. Some found their homes livable; those less fortunate are staying with family or friends. 

We completed our first month of post-Katrina business. Mail delivery is still limited, with most of our incoming mail for the last five weeks still in limbo. Our only phone service is to the warehouse in Mandeville - the offices in Mandeville and the Jefferson location still have no working phones. Our only Internet access is through Scott's laptop.

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• 9/21/05 - 7:30 PM CDT -  We re-entered New Orleans to secure the building and to retrieve some of our undamaged inventory. Everything below eye level is ruined. To date we have been able to reclaim only $30,000 of useable merchandise.

The city is still in "lock-down" mode, with access limited by military and police roadblocks. The threat of Hurricane Rita has increased the anxiety level.

Our new Jefferson branch is located at 4753 River Road, just east of the Huey P. Long Bridge. The building has been cleared and the shelving is assembled. We will begin taking material shipments on Friday the 23rd and hope to begin limited operations on Monday, September 26th. 

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• 9/19/05 - 8:30 PM CDT - Michael Hurst safe! 
  
  Michael, the last of our unaccounted-for team members, called in from Atlanta, GA, where he arrived yesterday after a multi-state odyssey. 
  
  Our accounting and purchasing personnel relocated to Mandeville and began "normal" business operations today. We are batch-loading manual transactions and hope to be operating in "real time" by the close of the week.  

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• 9/15/05 - 10:30 PM CDT - The highlight of the day, by far, was the discovery that Raymond is safe! Michael Hurst remains our final unaccounted-for team member. We continue to use the resources available to us to try to locate Michael.

Construction crews continue to make great progress at our new Mandeville facility. We hope to have our accounting and purchasing office relocated by Monday the 19th.

We took possession yesterday of a facility in Jefferson that will allow us an East Bank base of operations as the rebuilding of New Orleans begins. The waiting list for phone services is unbelievable (many businesses are being given January, 2006 installation estimates) and may slow our progress a bit.

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• 9/14/05 - 5:30 PM CDT - We were able to make way to the New Orleans location for our first on-site damage assessment. 
  Flood waters have indeed receded. The grounds are littered with bits of fallen trees, boats, and the remains of a crashed helicopter (on the levee next to our administrative office.) Everything is covered with a top-coat of brown "goo"; below this layer is another that is black and oily.

The storm boards on the front windows on the Bayou St. John side have been forcibly removed and the windows broken. There are noticeable signs of looting, 

The building's interior is a total mess. The best description that I can offer is this: it's as if our inventory, store fixtures, and furniture were put into a giant blender, mixed with a foul concoction of mud, chemicals, and other unmentionables, then randomly poured about the building. The water level exceeded the height of our sales counters, ruining all phones and computers. 

But now for the good news - we were able to snatch our computer server from it's dry, second-floor perch!  The server has been relocated to Mandeville. The system successfully booted, and all of our business data appears to be intact. So, after two and one-half weeks of operating "in the dark", our business systems are on the verge of being restored.

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A crashed helicopter adjacent to our accounting office (green building) 
and warehouse (beige building.)

• 9/12/05 - 3:30 PM CDT - Eyewitness reports from a military officer confirm that the flood waters surrounding the New Orleans building have receded enough to allow re-entry to the area for a closer inspection. These reports also indicate that the building is no longer flooded, has received what appears to be superficial wind damage, and shows signs of forced entry.
  
  We are obtaining a pass to allow re-entry to Orleans Parish and expect to have a team at the building on Tuesday the 13th. To date we have received no relief from our insurance providers and hope that an on-site damage assessment may force the issue forward. We plan to upload digital images of the property and contents directly from the site.

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• 9/10/05 - 4:30 PM CDT - We completed our first week of post-Katrina sales in Mandeville. Supply shipments to satisfy the huge demand for overhead service equipment are starting to arrive, but the transit times are frustratingly slow. Some freight carriers have not yet rerouted their New Orleans terminals, and UPS did not start making deliveries until September 8th (four days after we resumed operations.) FedEx and UPS "overnight" deliveries are two days overdue.

Our replacement server has arrived in Baton Rouge, and the process of restoring our data has begun. Our computer hardware provider was able to rush a replacement order of new computers, which should be arriving in Mandeville Monday the 12th. Our replacement digital phone system is ordered. We hope to have build-out of our temporarily administrative and sales offices completed by week end. 

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• 9/08/05 - 2:30 PM CDT - Business conditions continue to improve in western St. Tammany Parish. Power has been restored to most commercial buildings, and nearly all traffic signals are functioning. Kevin and Louis reported for work at the Mandeville branch, with Mike and Darren expected tomorrow. Customer demands for overhead electrical service equipment far exceed available supplies - we have large quantities of materials en route and should be in position to fill all demands by Monday.
  
  A visit to the Lakeview area of New Orleans on the 7th showed indications that flood waters were slowly receding, but still painfully high. Our New Orleans facility is still flooded and inaccessible. The Veterans bridge over the 17th St. Canal has become a huge boat launch, with dozens of rescue crafts of all shapes and sizes. 

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• 9/08/05 - 9:15 AM CDT - We are awaiting copies of the lease agreement for a building in East Jefferson, which will serve as our Southshore base of operations until the New Orleans location can be reclaimed and repaired.

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• 9/05/05 - 10:15 PM CDT - Power was restored to our Mandeville location. Our phone system in Mandeville is functioning, but we have no working computer system yet. Harry, Gene, Dave, Leslie, Steve, and Scott "labored" on Labor Day and handled a surprising amount of customer activity (even though we did not plan to resume operations until the 6th). The highlight of the day was a surprise phone call from Kevin, who is safe and sound in Mississippi. Faye and Darren are assisting with purchasing from their temporary homes in Houston and Atlanta. Chuck visited the shelter in Austin but was unable to meet with Anthony. He will try again tomorrow. Melinda was able to visit with Danny and Christina and baby Savannah, who are all fine in San Antonio. Steve was able to reach Roy last night - he and family are fine.

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• 9/02/05 - 8.55 PM CDT - As they say, a picture tells a thousand words. Considering that our New Orleans headquarters appears to be non-functional, we are immediately taking remedial action. The following action plan is now in effect:
  • We have leased an additional building in Mandeville that will serve as our temporary corporate headquarters and will increase our available Mandeville warehouse space by 100%. 
  • We have an option on a building in Elmwood that is dry and received no hurricane damage. We will open a location there as soon as commercial access is allowed in Jefferson Parish.

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• 9/02/05 - 3:15 PM CDT - Overhead views from various satellite camera services seem to indicate that our main headquarters received substantial water damage. Tim Levy, one of the principals of Pel Hughes on Toulouse Street, needed to be rescued by helicopter from the building's roof.

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• 9/02/05 - 8.45 AM CDT - NO DAMAGE IN MANDEVILLE! Believe it or not, I'm posting this update from the parking lot of our Mandeville Branch. There is no physical damage to the building at all. Both Harry and I (Scott) have made it back to Mandeville successfully. There may not be power in Western St. Tammany for 30 days, but we have secured generators so that we can resume operations in Mandeville on Tuesday, with a skeleton crew.

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• 8/31/05 - 1.15 PM CDT - Harry left Jackson on I-55 and has made it to US 190 and LA 22 in Mandeville - many trees down, but not the level of destruction that we're seeing elsewhere.

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• 8/31/05 - 7.45 AM CDT - We continue to receive eyewitness reports that indicate that the damage in Western St. Tammany Parish consists mostly of downed trees and power lines. We still have no direct information about the condition of our  Mandeville location.

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• 8/31/05 - 1.45 AM CDT - All reliable reports indicate that the levee repairs at 17th Street have failed, and that the floodwater levels continue to rise south of Lake Pontchartrain.

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• 8/30/05 - 10.15 PM CDT - Steve has begun the process of contacting our insurance providers from his "remote office" in New York City.

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• 8/30/05 - 8:00 PM CDT - Cell phone service to the 504 and 985 area codes is virtually non-existent, although some text messaging seems to be operational.  Nextel's Direct Connect service is functioning well, and has proven to be our main source of voice communication. All ASC phone systems are out, and will probably remain so for at least another week. 

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• 8/30/05 - 2:30 PM CDT - We have an eyewitness report that the I-12 / Highway 59 interchange in Mandeville has signs of wind damage, with numerous fallen trees, but no standing water.

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• 8/30/05 - 10:00 AM CDT - Darren reports from his temporary base of operations in Houston that the MSNBC overhead helicopter cam showed a brief glimpse of our Orleans Ave. facility. The roof is on, the walls appear to be intact, but the building is surrounded by water.

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As most of you know, New Orleans and the northern Gulf Coast received a devastating blow from Hurricane Katrina. Although central New Orleans appears to have avoided the dreaded “direct hit” that we have long feared from a major hurricane, the damage that is currently being reported in our area is nevertheless catastrophic.

The vast majority of our staff heeded the call for a mandatory evacuation. As a result, we are currently spread over an eight-state area. We are aggressively attempting to reach our friends and coworkers to confirm their safety. Unfortunately, the lack of cellular service in our service areas has hampered this effort.

At present we are unsure of the condition of our facilities in New Orleans and Mandeville.  We hope to have a damage assessment sometime Tuesday or Wednesday. What does appear certain, however, is that we may not be able to return to our homes for at least a few more days, and possibly another week.

The upcoming weeks will certainly pose a formidable challenge, regardless of whether or not our physical plants are intact. Many of the areas hardest hit by Katrina are the towns and neighborhoods of our extended Armstrong business family, and we have already confirmed that some of our associates have lost their homes. Our utilities are estimating that it may be as long as one month before electricity can be restored in the New Orleans area. These facts not withstanding, we are committed to returning “normal” business operations as quickly as possible.

We will make our best effort to update you as our situation becomes clearer.