HOUSTON — America’s fourth largest city by population remains paralyzed this morning as floodwaters caused by Hurricane Harvey inundate homes and businesses. Water rescues continue as authorities and volunteers sweep the area by boat.
In spite of this historic disaster, Rob Maes has managed to keep his trio of Laundromats in north Houston operational using “skeleton crews” who happen to live near the stores.
“All three are up and running as we speak,” Maes tells American Coin-Op Tuesday afternoon when reached by phone. “Ironically, we haven’t lost power at all.”
He owns Express Laundry Centers in Houston and in Spring, and another store called Mr. Clean in Humble. Spring and Humble are suburbs on the north side of Houston.
“There is high water everywhere. At least half of our employees are flooded in. That doesn’t mean their homes are flooded, it just means they can’t get out and anywhere,” Maes says. “The major tributaries all around us are big-time flooded.”
He’s running one of the stores himself with the help of his two sons, ages 17 and 21.
“There’s no way for me to get to my other two stores right now,” he says. “Because of the road closures, there is no way for me to get to the other two.”
His supervisor cannot leave her home, so he’s had the phones from all three stores forwarded to her. She’s letting customers know the stores remain open, and is staying in touch with staff. She’s also keeping an eye on the stores remotely using security cameras installed in each.
One of the stores is coin-only. Maes didn’t have a chance to make collections before Harvey hit. He figures he’s only got a day or two before coin boxes reach capacity and the machines can no longer be used.
While the heavy rains have subsided in Houston, with Harvey now impacting Louisiana, flooding remains a constant.
“There are guys on TV showing these charts, showing how this (storm) has broken every record that’s ever existed, but they’re all kind of pointing to Sept. 1 as (the floodwaters) going down,” Maes says. “I’m optimistic that, by Friday, that I may be able to get out and get around to my laundries.
“One of our stores is just mobbed, like a Sunday or greater. Another is dead, because no one can get to it. It just depends on the location.”
Once the waters recede and people are able to get back into their homes and businesses, Maes expects demand for laundry services to be high.
“I fully expect that we’ll get slammed,” he says. “And—this is unfortunate—I’m assuming that some laundries will have been flooded, so it’ll take them time to get back. On top of the flood demand, you also have the demand because there will be fewer Laundromats in the market available.”
Maes is contemplating operating his stores 24/7 once it’s safe to do.
“I’ve already had one utility company contact me about doing uniforms on a daily basis for their crew while they’re in town, and I think that’s just the tip of the iceberg,” he says.
At this point, it’s just too early to tell how deeply Houston has been impacted as a whole, says Maes.
“I have talked to a few other laundry owners, and they seem to be OK, but I’m sure that many others have been impacted.”
Maes believes Hurricane Harvey will be remembered in the same vein as another U.S. disaster.
“This is going to be like 9/11 for the residents of Houston, because everyone’s going to talk about where they were when it happened, and how it impacted them or somebody they knew.”
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