Eye of the storm: paint makers in Katrina's path: millions evacuated the Gulf Coast region in the U.S. as the Category 4 storm approached, leaving behind their homes and their livelihoods. For paint companies in the area, facilities may have been damaged and operations halted, but their biggest concern was the well-being of their employees.

As Hurricane Katrina approached the Gulf Coast of the U.S. in late August, millions of people evacuated, leaving behind their homes and their livelihoods in Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama. In the hours and days that followed, the world saw the destruction and chaos that followed the storm's assault. Residents lost their homes, and in the worst cases, lost their own lives or that of a friend, a relative or even a beloved pet.

As residents of the area try to regroup, so too are businesses. Among those are paint companies, such as Jotun, Sigma Coatings, Valspar, Ameron and International Paint, all of which had offices, warehouses and labs in the storm's path. (Coatings World's staff attempted to reach offices and operations in the region; however, as can be imagined, communication was difficult in the days following the storm.)

Ameron's marine market national sales office in Jefferson Parish, near New Orleans, didn't take the full brunt of the storm and is reported to be in good condition. "We lucked out," said Linda Marquez, director of marketing. She said all employees were safe and had been reassigned in the interim until there was working infrastructure.

Downed infrastructure was a big problem for many companies that wanted to assess their operations, or even take steps to restart any portion of its business. One source told a story in which it took a manager nine hours to get to a local facility, and then he only had an hour to gather products to ship and get out by the sundown curfew.

Of course, the business of manufacturing and selling paint takes a back seat to the human aspect of the Hurricane Katrina story. The good news is that paint companies Coatings World spoke with reported that their personnel were safe.

Contacting their employees and getting to their facilities to assess the damage was no easier for coatings personnel than it was for anyone else in the affected regions. With cellular phone service that was spotty at best and heavily damaged infrastructure, tracking their employees was no easy task.

"It took the better part of 10 days, but we've accounted for all of our employees," said Valspar's Joel C. Hart, vice president, automotive and international, regarding the company's Picayune, MI facility. About seven employees have lost everything, he said.

As for Valspar's facility, it did sustain some damage, but by mid-September, shipping was up and running and its normal shift-and-a-half production was in motion. During the downtime, Valspar relied on other U.S. locations to distribute products and its Grand Prairie, TX site for back-up production.

Prior to the storm, Jotun Paints USA shut down and secured its Belle Chasse, LA facility. After Katrina passed, Jotun officials found it difficult to contact employees and assess the damage with limited communications.

According to Svein Stolpestad, vice president, business support, Jotun Coatings, and chairman of the board of Jotun Paints Inc., a communication center was set up at Jotun's office and warehouse in Houston, TX and a dedicated team in Norfolk, VA was created to locate Belle Chasse's 56 employees.

"Despite the absence of a communications network and the adverse physical conditions, all employees were accounted for after only one week, their well-being assured," said Stolpestad. "People have been supporting each other and helping out with housing and practicalities, and we've seen impressive care and concern between colleagues. Jotun feels extremely happy that all the employees have emerged physically unhurt from the hurricane, but remain concerned as to the task ahead to rebuild the dwellings of many of our employees and the population of New Orleans. We will continue to support and aid our employees and local environment as far as possible."

Satellite images of the Belle Chasse site led Jotun officials to believe the site was not directly affected by heavy flooding. When personnel did get in, they reported minor damage to the building itself, with computers and other support equipment intact--all good news for the company, which had only celebrated the completion of an expansion project there in January. In addition, there were no chemical spills. Production resumed on Sept. 13 on a reduced scale, with Jotun expecting "full employment" around the end of the month, Stolpestad said.

"We remain able to serve the market although we do expect stock-outs of certain products in the short term. To help the situation, Jotun Paints, Inc. will import specific goods from the UK until the market may be served to satisfaction from local production," added Stolpestad.

Also operating in Belle Chasse, LA was CMP Coatings Inc. According to Glen Dempsey, a regional manager with CMP who is based in Brick, NJ, the manufacturing, lab and warehouse facility didn't experience significant flooding. All employees have been located, the last one being found Sept. 9 in a shelter in Houston.

Paul Marzocca, who works for International Paint in Union, NJ, said that all employees from the company's warehouse on Louisa Street in New Orleans and its facility in Mobile, AL were safe. The main factory in Houston was supplying the region with product.

As of Sept. 14, Sigma Coatings USA, New Orleans, was still "searching for a handful of employees, but the vast majority have been located and are being taken care of," said Rick Hagar, a spokesperson for Total S.A.'s U.S.-based operations, which includes Sigma Coatings. According to Hagar, the firm set up an office in North Houston and the "company is fully operational."

He said Sigma officials were in the process of assessing the plant and manufacturing operations.

HOMES DAMAGED/DESTROYED BY KATRINA TO DWARF TOTALS OF OTHER U.S. NATIONAL DISASTERS

While the full extent of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the overall economy and on the housing market is still unclear, the number of homes destroyed is almost certain to dwarf the losses from any previous U.S. natural disaster, said the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB).

The number of housing units destroyed (made uninhabitable and beyond economically-justified repair) by Hurricane Andrew in 1992 was estimated at more than 28,000. The combined effect of Hurricanes Jeanne, Ivan, Frances and Charley in 2004 was almost as large, with nearly 27,500 housing units destroyed, according to estimates compiled by the American Red Cross.

Katrina caused widespread immediate damage in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama, but the flooding in New Orleans, Mobile, and elsewhere is likely to translate into much larger numbers of homes destroyed. The flood waters carried contaminants that cannot easily be removed, and even if the water was clean, prolonged submersion would cause structures to be damaged beyond repair. This is likely to be the fate of a large share of the more than 200,000 homes in the city of New Orleans, according to NAHB.