ORLANDO, Fla. - As Alberto teetered between a tropical storm andhurricane heading toward Florida last week during CUNA's FutureForum, three credit unions that survived Katrina last year saidtheir new plans were already put into effect. The breakout sessionwas eerily timely as attendees monitored tropical storm Alberto andtalk of the hurricane season being kicked off dominated. The creditunions had similar policies of once the storm is named, the firststeps of their action plans were taken. Remembering that everyonewas in the same boat was important during the aftermath ofHurricane Katrina last year, Singing River Federal Credit UnionSenior Vice President for Operations Tim McLeod emphasized. Thephilosophy of the South Mississippi credit union at the time was"If you could prove you were a Singing River member, come on in. Ifyou can't, come on in anyway," he said.

He explained that his credit union had built a second floor onone of its branches where there was no need in the small townexcept that it serves as a mirror site for the credit union'soperations. McLeod himself drives off with his camper to somewheresafe away from the storm so that he can return as soon as possibleand a second backup of the data is on the second floor of the CEO'shome, well North of the ocean.

In the first step of Singing River's plan, an e-mail is sent outto all employees to ensure that the staff contact list isup-to-date and complete. The plan is tested each quarter andmonthly during hurricane season.

One problem Louisiana Federal Credit Union encountered duringlast year's disasters was lack of security, CEO Rhonda Hotardexplained. "We had a generator. We had power. We'd go in every dayand ask, `Can we open?' and they would say `No,'" she said of lawenforcement; they just didn't have the manpower under thecircumstances. The credit union ended up getting someone they knewwith a license to carry a fire arm to guard the credit unionoperations in the aftermath of Katrina. After the experience,Hotard said her credit union invested in online backups, which areperformed every 15 minutes, so an employee did not have to waitbehind for batching, laptops for management, and backup equipmentat an alternate recovery site. The credit union also joined ashared service center network within two weeks after the storm.Importantly, Louisiana FCU also developed a return-to-work policy."A lot of people tend to take this as a vacation time," Hotardsaid. She also reminded, "It is important to perform full periodictesting of your plan." Now, impacted credit unions are stillfeeling the effects on their balance sheets, New Orleans Fireman'sFederal Credit Union CEO Judy DeLucca said. Her credit union'sassets jumped 66% since the hurricane to $120 million, dropping itscapital from 11% to 7% in no time. Assets finally stabilized inApril and delinquencies are very low, around 0.24%. Additionally,she said fee income is down 75%.

But the credit unions were not the only ones to feel the wrathof Katrina. DeLucca could not hold back the tears when she thankedall of the credit union groups that offered assistance during thecrisis, including those that helped shelter and feed theiremployees. "Really, they couldn't have survived," she [email protected]