Hurricane Harvey Has Sent Walmart Into Major Disaster Relief Mode

As floodwaters rise in Houston, Walmart Stores Inc. (WMT) executives, from their headquarters in Bentonville, Ark., are monitoring impacted stores and ensuring that employees are safe and store shelves are stocked as best as possible, Walmart spokesman Ragan Dickens told TheStreet on Tuesday, Aug. 29.

"It remains to be seen but this storm has the potential to have a greater impact than Katrina," Dickens said. Hurricane Katrina hit the U.S. Gulf Coast in August 2005, displacing hundreds of thousands of people in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama and racking up more than $100 billion in damages.

Dickens spoke to TheStreet midday on Tuesday from Walmart's emergency operations center, which has been monitoring Harvey since several days before the now tropical storm made landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, as a category 4 hurricane.

"The first stage is to prepare, the second is to recover and assess and the third is to start bringing stores back online," Dickens said. On Tuesday morning, 101 Walmart and Sam's Club locations were offline and within the last three hours that number has dropped to 86, he added.

In Corpus Christi, Dickens said stores are beginning to be reopened and stocked with necessities. Walmart has deployed 1,060 emergency trucks to Harvey-affected areas since the storm made landfall late on Friday, Aug. 24, with 937 of them carrying only crates of bottled water.

My Walmart is prepared for hurrican Harvey! Look at all the water that's displayed! �� pic.twitter.com/UkONYCM1Pk
— manda panda (@niamxcashton) August 25, 2017

"We have our transportation and safety teams working hand in hand," Dickens said. Walmart deploys safety teams first to check out the conditions of the roads trucks are taking to get to Harvey-affected areas, ensuring none of its drivers are harmed.

Most of Walmart's Houston and Rockport, Texas, stores are still in the assessment phase. Locations in the path of the storm, which is currently headed east toward Louisiana, are now being evaluated, prepped for possible damage and evacuated, in some cases, according to Dickens.

Dickens said extra supplies are being sent to Walmart stores in towns, such as Waco and Dallas, where Texans are fleeing for refuge. The big-box retailer, which generates almost $500 billion in sales each year, is currently working to supply local shelters with essential items and will move to assist national shelters as the recovery phase takes form over the next several months.

Before Harvey hit, Walmart committed to at least $1 million in cash and product donations to Texas and Louisiana.

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