Press Release
For Immediate Release
New York, NY, USA. 31st August 2021.
On the 16th anniversary of Hurricane Katrina causing devastation to the state of New Orleans, Hurricane Ida made landfall. With windspeeds reaching 150mph the Cat 4 storm slammed into Louisiana as the fifth strongest hurricane ever to hit mainland U.S, reversing the flow of the Mississippi river and taking the roof off a hospital in the process.
When Katrina made landfall sixteen years ago on the 29th of August 2005 it was Cat 3 storm and caused massive disruption along the coast of Louisiana, one of the US’s most important industrial corridors, and highlighted the areas vulnerability to flooding. Ida, making landfall just 45 miles west of Katrina’s entry point, has only emphasized this further causing power outages for the entire city of New Orleans as confirmed by Entergy, the city’s power supplier. On top of this, storm surges reaching up to 12 feet (3.65 m) have been reported in the region causing damage and disruption to the energy sector.
Using Adapt Ready’s risk intelligence platform the impacts to business and industry can be seen already as well as the potential costly supply chain and business interruption issues yet to come.
Hurricane Ida has now been downgraded to a tropical storm, but the issues are only just beginning with initial predictions showing the most affected industries currently to be:
- Chemicals
- Energy (Offshore & Onshore)
- Metal Products
Major companies like Westlake Chemicals and Occidental Petrochemicals have been shut down, and these are companies that were already battered by multiple challenges in the past year: declaration of force majeures on their key products like PVC after last year’s record-breaking hurricanes, and Occidental’s Texas facility declaring force majeure earlier this year during Texas’ severe winter storm. Shell’s chemical and refining operations at Narco, Louisiana were shut down during the winter storm and these facilities are again in Ida’s path.
The chemical sector is set to experience some of the biggest impacts to its supply chains, especially the Plastics & Rubber industry that relies on chemicals from the impacted regions, like polymeric MDI (for foams), polyethylene (for packaging materials), butadiene (for tires), PVC and chlorine.
Business interruption and supply chain issues are expected to follow after the initial damage caused by Ida. Our predictions show that in addition to Energy and Chemicals industries, we also foresee impact to the Plastics & Rubber industries, because of the sheer length of time it takes for refineries to get back to full production capacity. More details are available on our infographic below.
If you would like more information as to your specific portfolio requirements in the affected area or just want to be kept up to date with real time hurricane impacts this season, then please contact riskmonitor@adaptready.com.
About Adapt Ready:
Adapt Ready’s ground-breaking risk intelligence platform delivers new data insights and fills in key gaps with external data, enabling our customers to better manage operational and financial risks, and to enhance their growth and profitability. With our platform, organizations can gain insights from external data tailored to specific situations before, during and after a crisis:
- Before: Plan for risks by uncovering as many hidden risks as possible
- During: Mitigate the impact – as events unfold, new data emerges and can inform decisions to reduce the event’s impact
- After: Adapt to new conditions and refine future business direction