Storm Response: When the Weather Hits, We Stay

Most property managers leave before a hurricane makes landfall. They board up their own house, evacuate their family, and check back in once the roads are clear and the power is back. In the meantime, the properties they manage sit unattended — and the owners sit somewhere out of state, watching the storm track on their phone, waiting for news that may not come for days.

I don’t leave.

I’ve been through more storms than I can count in forty years of managing property in New Orleans. Hurricanes, tropical storms, the kind of heavy rain events that turn streets into rivers in forty-five minutes. I stay because the properties I manage need someone on the ground — and because the owners who trust me with their property deserve to hear from me, not wonder.

What Happens Before a Storm

Storm response starts before the storm does. When a significant weather event is tracking toward New Orleans, we’re already in communication with tenants about what they need to do to prepare the property: securing outdoor furniture and fixtures, knowing the shutoff locations for gas and water, understanding their insurance responsibilities, and knowing how to reach us if something happens.

We also do a pre-storm walk of properties when conditions allow — catching anything that could become a problem if wind and water get involved. A gate that doesn’t latch properly. A roof flashing that was already borderline. A door seal that won’t keep water out. Small things before a storm become expensive things after one.

“I’ve walked properties the morning after a Category 2 with owners on the phone who were sitting in a hotel room in Baton Rouge. The peace of mind of hearing a calm voice telling you what you’re actually dealing with — that’s what this service is.”

What Happens After a Storm

The moment it’s safe to move through the city, I’m moving. Every property gets assessed. Not from the curb — I go inside, I go on the roof if I need to, I go wherever the situation requires. I photograph everything. I document every point of damage with enough detail to support an insurance claim and to give a contractor an accurate scope of work.

Then I call the owner. Not a text with a vague update. A real conversation about what I found, what it’s going to take to address it, and what the next steps are. If a property has significant damage, we’re already coordinating emergency repairs — not waiting for a contractor to call back.

The Contractor Problem After a Storm

After any significant storm, New Orleans fills up with out-of-state contractors who set up temporarily, take deposits from desperate property owners, and disappear before the work is done. This is not speculation. It happens after every major weather event.

We don’t use contractors we don’t know. Our contractor network was built over forty years — people who are here year-round, who are licensed, who stand behind their work, and who we can call at midnight if something needs to be addressed immediately. After a storm is exactly when that network matters most.

We vet the contractor before the damage happens. That’s the only way to be ready when it does.

Not Just Hurricanes

The Gulf South doesn’t save its weather events for named storms. New Orleans gets heavy rain events that drop several inches in under an hour, drainage systems that back up, and localized flooding that can put water in a ground-floor unit without any official storm declaration. We deal with all of it.

• Heavy rain and localized flooding — rapid assessment and drainage coordination
• Roof leaks — common after any significant rain event, regardless of storm category
• Sewer and drain backups — a New Orleans reality that requires fast response
• Wind damage — fencing, gates, shutters, exterior fixtures
• Power outages — coordination with Entergy, assessment of damage to electrical systems
• Freeze events — rare in New Orleans but devastating when they happen; pipe protection and burst-pipe response

The Occasional Freeze

New Orleans gets a hard freeze maybe once every few years — and when it does, properties that have never needed winterization suddenly have burst pipes and water damage in walls that hadn’t leaked in decades. Most tenants in this market have no experience with freeze preparedness. Most properties aren’t insulated for it.

When a freeze is coming, we’re in front of it. We communicate with tenants about leaving faucets dripping, cabinet doors open under sinks, and how to shut off water if a pipe does burst. We identify properties with exposed or vulnerable plumbing beforehand. And if a pipe bursts, we have someone on it before the water does lasting damage to flooring, drywall, and ceilings.

“A freeze in New Orleans is like a hurricane nobody prepared for. Forty years here means we’ve seen it before and we know exactly what to do.”

Communication Is the Service

The most common complaint absentee owners have after a storm or a weather event isn’t about the damage itself — it’s about not knowing. Days of silence from a property manager. No photos. No phone calls. Just the owner refreshing their weather app and assuming the worst.

We don’t operate that way. You hear from us before the storm, during if conditions allow, and immediately after we’ve assessed your property. You get photos. You get a description of what we found and what it means. You get a plan.

You don’t find out about damage to your property through a tenant text two weeks later. Not on our watch.

After the Assessment

Once we’ve documented the damage, we move into full coordination mode: insurance claim support with accurate documentation, contractor scheduling, repair oversight, and keeping the owner informed at every step. We don’t hand the owner a repair estimate and step back. We manage the recovery the same way we manage the property — directly, transparently, and to completion.

If you own property in New Orleans and your current property manager doesn’t stay through storms, that’s something worth thinking hard about before the next hurricane season begins. Call David at 504-232-1672.