The aftermath is “unthinkable devastation” said New Jersey Gov.Chris Christie when describing the massive destruction left behindby Hurricane Sandy that blasted the East Coast in the evening of Oct. 29. The monster storm caused massive floodingthroughout New Jersey, New York and Connecticut, igniting firesthat destroyed dozens of homes in New York, leaving more than 8million homes and businesses from Maine to Michigan without powerand even generating a blizzard dumping one to three feet of snow inparts of West Virginia.

The unthinkable devastation of this historic super storm wasevident on Tuesday morning when the first images of Sandy’sshocking ruins were seen on the news and is bound to dominate thenational headlines for weeks to come. But to what extent the stormaffected the credit union industry was difficult to assess at presstime.

Widespread power outages primarily in New York, New Jersey,Connecticut and Pennsylvania, and thousands of road closuresprevented credit union leaders from communicating and accessingtheir branches and offices.

CUNA Mutual Group said Tuesday afternoon that is not yetreceived many reports about Hurricane Sandy damage to credit unionsit insured. But the company also said it expects that tochange.

“Many of these credit unions are still not able to get totheir facilities, so we don’t know the extent, if any, of theirdamages,” said CMG spokesperson Phil Tschudy.

“Most of the damage reports CUNA Mutual Group has received sofar have been from credit unions not impacted by major flooding,”Tschudy said. “Those credit unions are reporting power outages andminor building damage. However, those we are most concernedabout have locations in the storm surge flood areas.”

By Wednesday morning, Paul Gentile, president/CEO of the New Jersey Credit UnionLeague, got his first opportunity to survey some of the storm’sruins.

“I can’t believe the extent of damage on the shore. It isdevastating,” said Gentile through a mobile phone text message.“Our CUs are starting to make contact and we will be providing astatus update soon. Many CUs are posting ACH and share draftsremotely. No power. Lack of gas and blocked roads are main[obstacles] to doing business. NCUL’s offices remain closed. Wecontinue to operate in biz continuity mode.”

New York Damages

Credit unions across the greater New York City area suffered a widevariety of different damage from the super storm and withdifferent levels of response.

The 5,000-member $30 million Bethex Federal Credit Union, a community development creditunion headquartered in the Bronx, N.Y., reported being fullyopen for business at its one branch and online and available forall transactions.

“Yes, we are open and all systems are go,” reported Bethexfounder and CEO JoyCousminer, a 58-year veteran of the institution.

Cousminer reported that the credit union opened despite the factthat she did not have power or hot water at her home in Manhattanand despite the fact that the credit union’s 23 staffers did nothave access to public transportation.

Bethex had arranged ride pools and offered to pay the cab faresof staff that needed to take a cab to make it to work during theemergency.

Cousminer also noted that the credit union had been fortunate inthat it had not suffered any flooding in either its member serviceor back-office facility and that neither facility had large numbersof trees nearby to bring down power lines.

One of the credit unions struggling with the storm’s effects isthe 340,000-member $1.8 billion Municipal Credit Union, which has a down website, down phonesand a number of members publicly worrying about not being able toaccess their funds.

A reader named “katricemoored” posted a comment atwww.CUTimes.com that said she has not been able to contact thecredit union about a check. “MCU website is down and when I call arecording says the phone is disconnected...don’t feel very saferight now...check deposited on Friday still hasn’t cleared. I don’thave anyone money to feed my family.”

Another comment poster who identified herself as ChristineJoseph, added, “NYMCU being out is a rather large concern right nowto me. My funds get directly deposited–does that mean that it’sjust out in limbo somewhere? What about the impact to scheduledrecurring payments? Or, for that matter, utilization of my ATMcard? I’m astonished that there isn’t a suitable backup mechanismto keep very basic functions going. I moved from the big banks toCU even though they are smaller in comparison but more communityfocused. Is this the price of moving to a credit union?”

Late Wednesday morning, the credit union issued a statement. “Inthe aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, like the members we serve, MCU isworking hard to restore service. We hope to have some of ourbranches open later today. Members can call 212-693-4900 foran updated status on branches open. Members can also access theirfunds through the NYCE network. We hope you and your family aresafe.”

And Municipal is not the only credit union to struggle. The 5,800-member, $33 million Lower East Side People’s FederalCredit Union has its branch in Harlem open last Wednesday, but itsmain branch on the Lower East Side remained closed due to poweroutages, according to the credit union’s website.

The 22,000-member, $165 million Actor’s Federal Credit Union,headquartered in mid-town Manhattan, had its website up but had topost alternate phone numbers after the credit union’s main numberswent down. “We are operating with limited staff, so there may bedelays in processing your requests,” the credit unionwrote.

McGraw-Hill FCU president/CEO Shawn Gilfedder said itsheadquarters in East Windsor, N.J. is running on auxiliary powerand its branch at 1221 Avenue of the Americas in New YorkCity reopened for business Wednesday, Oct. 31. He is uncertain,however, about when the branch at 2 Penn Plaza in Manhattan wouldopen because the staff was in-transit to that branch and have beendelayed due to the congestion of the mass transit system.

“Our 55 Water Street branch [in downtown New York City] appearsto have suffered the worst of the storm, forcing completeevacuation of the building,” wrote Gilfedder in an email to memberson Tuesday night.

The Credit Union Association of New York said its memberservices team is continuing to call all credit unions on LongIsland, in the boroughs of the New York City metropolitan area, andWestchester and Rockland counties to assess the level ofimpact.

“We will also be documenting the level of resources needed.Given the continued state of emergency in those areas, it’s goingto be a few days before we have a complete assessment,” BonnieSklar, public relations coordinator for CUANY in Albany, said lastWednesday.

Advance Preparations

The CUNA Mutual Group activated its property and casualty claimsdisaster team on Oct. 26– three days before Sandy made landfall inNew Jersey–contacting credit union leagues in North Carolina,Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, Delaware,Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York. On that same day, NCUAissued a warning to all credit unions from Mid-Atlantic north toprepare for Hurricane Sandy.

By the early morning hours of Oct. 29, many league officesclosed after governors declared a state of emergency, whichrestricted travel. But league employees were working from theirhome.

“We are monitoring our credit unions and asking about theirplans,” said Jane Bailey, executive vice president of the Delaware Credit Union League in New Castle, Del. “We hope thatfolks will use their best judgment and make their safety and thator their staffs a priority.”

Indeed, many credit unions throughout Virginia, Maryland,Delaware, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Connecticut,wisely followed the advice from their leagues and closed up shop bynoon or earlier to make sure their employees and members couldreturn home safely. The nation’s largest credit union, the$51 billion Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna Va., for example, closed 20branches Monday and closed 18 branches early.

“I can tell you we were well-prepared well in advance of thestorm and we are evaluating the situation constantly, JeanetteMack, corporate communications officer at Navy Federal, said onOct. 29.

“We also have many credit unions that are closed today andtomorrow,” president/CEO Anthony Emerson of the Credit Union Leagueof Connecticut said in the morning of Oct. 29. “We are preparingfor the worst, which is supposed to start today.”

PSCU made its call centers available to help member creditunions impacted by Sandy. The nationwide payments processing CUSOhas facilities available that can increase lines of credit onmember credit cares, arrange for skipped payments and take othersteps that a credit union has pre-authorized to help its membersaddress the impact of the storm.

In Maine, the Maine Credit Union League in Westbook and itssubsidiary, Synergent, took precaution to monitor the operations ofa service center, which houses MCUL’s data process and IT systemsfor credit unions through the sate. League and Synergent staffedthe facility overnight to monitor the systems for any issues thatmight occur during the storm.

As thousands of credit unions from New England to North Carolinahunkered down for Sandy’s wrath, snow was falling more than400 miles away in West Virginia. The National Weather Service inCharleston issued a blizzard warning for 10 cities in the southernand eastern portions of that state.

“In the southern part of the state, they are getting snowalready,” West Virginia Credit Union League President Kenneth Watts saidon Oct. 29. “Beckley has gotten two to three inches of snow on theground. But no credit unions there have been closed that we areaware of.”

Sandy’s strong winds colliding with cold winds funneling fromthe north created a snow machine that dumped one to three feet ofsnow in West Virginia by Wednesday morning, according to theWeather Channel.

By late Monday afternoon, CUSO Ongoing Operations reported allof its credit union clients in the path of Hurricane Sandy hadclosed. “Clients with business continuity plans will be able toreopen within an hour or two of the storm,” said Don Stewart,director of professional services for the Hagerstown, Md.-basedOngoing Operations, which was formed to provide credit unions withbusiness continuity planning tools. At this point, all that couldbe done was to wait in a safe place for the storm’s fury topass.

The Storm Hits

By 8 p.m. Monday, Oct. 29, the center of Sandy blastedinto the southern coast of New Jersey. According to mediareports hurricane-force winds extended up to 175 miles from thecenter of the storm. Its tropical-storm force winds spread out 485miles that reached the Great Lakes region. When Sandy hit landfalland churned inland, it was reclassified as a post-tropicalcyclone.

By late Monday night and early Tuesday morning, the first imagesof Sandy’s unthinkable devastation filled the newscasts to theshock of millions of Americans.

League offices and many credit unions remain closed Tuesdaythroughout the East Coast because phone lines were down, as well aswireless systems, and many areas were not accessible because offlooded or destroyed roadways.

The Pennsylvania Credit Union Association, the Ohio Credit UnionLeague and the Virginia Credit Union League did not receive anycalls for assistance from credit unions in their state, as ofTuesday afternoon. PCUA Director of Communications DianePowell said they might not have gotten any reports because manycredit unions, particularly in the southeastern portion of thestate, have no power and roads were still closed. “We knowthere are 200 roads that are still closed, mostly in the southeastarea, so it could also be a matter that people have not been ableto access their credit unions to assess for any damages,” saidPowell. “And without power there is really nothing we can do forthem right now.”

Some league offices were expected to be open Wednesday, Oct.31, and were prepared to field calls for assistance fromcredit unions. Although the New Jersey Credit Union League officeremained closed on Wednesday, employees were working from theirhomes to assist credit unions.

Risk Management Solutions said storm Sandy’s impact on the EastCoast is much more severe than last year’s Hurricane Irene, andthe catastrophe modeler expects insured losses from Sandy toeclipse the $4.5 billion in losses from Irene. Catastrophe modelerEqecat says it expects Hurricane Sandy will cause up to $10 billionin losses for the insurance industry. Eqecat puts total economicdamages from Sandy at between $10 billion and $20 billion, withinsured losses between $5 billion to $10 billion. At the lowend of Eqecat’s estimate, Hurricane Sandy would become one of the ten costliesthurricanes in the United States, according to the InsuranceInformation Institute.