There's not a whole lot to do in Southeast Louisiana right now with many businesses offering limited services on even more limited hours. Most people appear to have returned to Southeast Louisiana but after cleaning up the house and helping out your friends, family, and neighbors, it can get a bit boring, particularly after the sun goes down.
Jefferson Parish Economic Development Commission Executive Director Jerry Bologna spoke with WWL about the lack of commercial options in the region post-Ida. He sounded optimistic about the chances for a swift return to regular hours and services.
“I think we are going to see businesses ramp up fairly quickly,” said Bologna. “The big problem with Ida was the loss of power and internet, and I think that as those services have come back online quickly more and more of the employee base can get back and businesses can open up.”
Many businesses were already having trouble with staffing issues before the storm. Bologna said the workers they did have either evacuated, or were stuck dealing with the difficult post-Ida landscape.
“So many of the employees might be dealing with their own damages and the things that go along with it, “said Bologna. “Dealing with insurance adjusters, repairing roofs, things like that.”
Even if businesses had power, internet, and enough workers to open many lost inventory during the storm, and or couldn’t get any in the weeks after.
Many still can’t.
“There are lots of supply chain issues, and there were supply chain issues going into the storm that were COVID-related, and this has exacerbated that issues,” said Bologna. “We’re seeing a number of companies that rely on Amazon, UPS, and other delivery systems, those are lagging.”
While those are short-term issues, Bologna explained the storm has created one potential long-term issue: debt. He said many companies are having to take out SBA loans to reopen in a timely manner. He said that kind of increase in debt is a concern moving forward, particularly when some businesses still haven’t paid off their Hurricane Katrina SBA loans.
