Last year, Lake Charles faced considerable damage as a result of Hurricane Laura, which caused the deaths of over two dozen people and devastation to thousands of homes and businesses. Before Hurricane Delta would lead to even more grief less than two months later, the Louisiana city was left in a sort of shock while it worked to regain its footing in Laura’s aftermath.
With no shortage of recovery efforts to perform, it was critical to restore the operations of businesses and facilities that local residents depended on in their day-to-day lives. Thankfully, Mobile Air & Power Rentals was on site to provide whatever temporary power and/or drying solutions were needed to help the area out. Among the countless facilities that we partnered with, one was a major American retailer that locals relied on for groceries and consumer goods.
After Laura struck Lake Charles, the retail store faced quite the host of issues: the hurricane caused flooding and water damage in the building, knocked out the store’s power, and had damaged the rooftop AC units. The store was hot, humid, wet, and dark, all while facing an equal if not greater demand among customers in the area.
Once restoration professionals removed any excess water and scrubbed down the sales floor, it was MAPR’s turn to perform under great pressure to restore the building’s functionality as soon as possible. Over the course of a full day, four technicians installed a temporary power and drying solution using two 220 kVA rental generators and four 5,000 CFM rental desiccant dehumidifiers. The technicians used scissor lifts to run polyduct across the store, which was somewhat challenging due to the shelves obstructing much of the floor space. Once the temporary solution was installed, the store was once again fully operational while the dehumidifiers dried the most problematic areas.
Minor service was performed on the rental equipment over the course of the solution’s two-week duration. Considering that the store was open to the public by this time, the service was no easy feat. Thankfully, everything went smoothly despite the hectic aftermath of Hurricane Laura, and Mobile Air & Power Rentals was able to provide a temporary drying and power solution to the local store, allowing Lake Charles’s locals to purchase supplies as they made their recovery.
