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No rest for helping hands after hurricanes

Workers pull long shifts at utilities, home supply stores and other businesses as they help people clean up after the storms or prepare for the next one.

When Hurricanes Charley and Frances stormed into Florida, the term "overtime" became all but meaningless for people whose jobs involve helping storm victims.

Police officers, firefighters, insurance adjusters, utility workers and others have been working almost nonstop for weeks, with little time for their own families.

Carl Plaskett, owner of a Servpro franchise that specializes in water removal, normally has four workers on duty. But this week, three additional workers came in, along with several volunteers.

"People just called and said they'd give me a hand," Plaskett said. "Even my accountant. Hey, if you come on down, we'll put a shirt and some clothes on you."

Since Monday, Plaskett's office in St. Petersburg has received about 100 phone calls. And it's not unusual, he said, for people whose homes have flooded to flag down his trucks and ask for help.

Although his crews have been working 12- and 13-hour days, Plaskett said, the workload has not been unmanageable.

"Today (Friday), we ran out of drying equipment - dehumidifiers and air-moving equipment," Plaskett said. "But we're starting to rotate it out of buildings that are dry now, and we'll probably get more in today and tomorrow. Hopefully, by Monday, we'll get it all back.

"It's a strain only that you feel bad people are calling, asking, "When can you get to me?' We have to put them on a waiting list. I tell them that if they can find someone else, please feel free. Our biggest problem is turning people down.

"It's just not pleasant dealing with people when they have this kind of strife, and there's probably quite a few people out there who have yet to see anybody, and won't until after the next storm."

Homeowners in the Tampa Bay area started calling the Florida State Insurance Adjusters office in Seminole before Hurricane Charley hit the Port Charlotte area.

Since then, Frances has bombarded the state, and the company's six adjusters have been working 14- to 16-hour days.

"I went down to Homestead for Hurricane Andrew," said company president Lenny Bauman. Frances was "not as bad. The damage severity doesn't compare, although it's a wider area here."

For the most part, Bauman said, adjusters are used to seeing shattered roofs, waterlogged furniture and soggy carpeting.

"But the long hours take a toll," he said. "And at times, it does become a bit overwhelming."

At the Home Depot on 22nd Avenue N in St. Petersburg, Shawn Cameron normally works in the windows and doors department. Mike Myers usually can be found in kitchen and bath. And co-manager Ed Warren is typically somewhere inside the store.

For the past couple of days, they and other employees have been loading plywood for customers who have been lining up to buy sheets of lumber.

"I've got people from plumbing, appliances, mill works - from every department - out there," Warren said of the bustling outdoor plywood loading area.

Tommy Toon abandoned his commercial customer desk on Thursday to load plywood for 14 hours, six hours more than his regular shift. He prepared for the possibility of the same on Friday.

"We are so stretched," said Toon, an 11-year employee.

Normally, one or two people load plywood at a given time, Warren said. Now it's as many as 15.

Cameron was among them. For three days, he has loaded plywood.

"I usually sit in a chair and do special orders on a computer," he said Friday.

On Thursday, he spent virtually every minute of his 12-hour shift handling plywood.

At some point, co-manager Warren said, managers will close the store so that employees can take care of their own homes.

"It's a delicate balance: We want to provide a service to the community, but our associates also need to be able to go home and pack up and board up their windows as well," Warren said.

The Publix supermarket chain usually remains open every day but Thanksgiving, Easter and Christmas.

But last Sunday, during the height of Frances, about 60 Publix supermarkets closed throughout the Tampa Bay area.

Workers at other stores were given the option, provided it was safe, to request to work at the stores that remained open.

Dozens did just that.

"I think our associates were looking for a sense of normalcy," said Maria Rodamis, community affairs manager for Publix. "Just talking to other associates and the customers, . . . they can relate with one another. That's something very soothing.

"People are not used to seeing us closed, so coming to work was a gleam of hope for many."

Reed Adcock, who assesses damage for Progress Energy, left his home on Aug. 12 to work 30 minutes away at the company's "distribution storm center" in Lake Mary.

Adcock, who has returned home no more than six times since then, put his dog into a kennel.

"She'll probably forget who I am," he said.

The company's 9,000 repair workers have been working seven days a week since Charley.

"We try to give as many people as possible a chance to go home and relax and see their loved ones," Adcock said. "But the product we serve the public doesn't allow us to take time off when it's off.

"Many of our folks go home to no electricity, get up in the dark and come back to work. Some folks haven't had the opportunity to take a day off since the first one (Charley)."