Images of Hurricane Ike tell only a small part of the devastation left in its wake on the coastal community of Galveston, TX. The island’s largest credit union, Coastal Community Federal was arguably the hardest hit in the region where Carol Purdy-Gaylord serves as CEO. Two other FLEX credit unions impacted were Port Arthur Community FCU, managed by Sabrina Miguez, and Houston's C-E Federal Credit Union led by CEO Mark Wright.

Following the gulf region hurricanes of 2004 & 2005, Coastal Community opted to implement CMC's managed hosting solution, a hybrid in-house/on-line solution which allows credit unions to maintain the benefit of ownership and control over member information without the responsibilities of system management. With their server housed at CMC's corporate headquarters in Sandy, Utah, the 8,300 member Coastal Community FCU did not experience any down time despite the devastating impact the storm had on their main facility, branch offices and the rest of their community.
Carol reported that their two primary locations in Galveston were flooded with four feet of water. Included was her main office which was originally constructed approximately six feet above street level in order to protect against potential flooding. At peak surge of the hurricane, the area surrounding her main office suffered a delugeof over ten feet of water. “We were fortunate that we were allowed to set up an emergency office alongside other city service providers that included police, fire and other emergency response teams from within the San Luis Hotel. Our use of CMC's managed hosting gave us uninterrupted service. In order to serve our affected members, we were able to obtain cash from the mainland which was accompanied by police back onto the island.”

She continues, “We have members arriving at our front doors in taxi cabs after losing everything.” Nevertheless, she remains optimistic. “There are many on the outside to whom we owe the deepest degree of gratitude. Our credit union's shared branching network as well as CMC have both been extremely instrumental in helping us to survive this event.” As of this report, the only wired office operating is the LaMarque Branch location. Carol indicated that her main office is now operating using wireless air cards via an internet-based VPN connection. “We anticipate having fiber restored to our main facility within the next couple of days.”

Ike also affected Port Arthur Community Federal Credit Union and C-E Federal Credit Union, both initiating their disaster service arrangement with CMC within hours of the storm. Both operate CMC's in-house FLEX System and were restored to full operational condition using stand-in systems located at CMC's headquarters in Sandy, Utah, within two hours of receiving their data. Mark Wright remarked, “The transition was extremely seamless and surprisingly fast. CMC's preparation, constant communication and concern for us all was most evident.”

Sabrina Miguez of Port Arthur continued, “Josh was a blessing. He gave me his cell phone number and made himself available all weekend. In fact, everyone at CMC was great. The following work week the receptionists knew who we were, what we had been through and expedited our calls accordingly.”

Our thoughts and prayers remain with all those affected by Ike's devastating impact.