In post-WWII America, industry was robust, with ration-starved manufacturing roaring back to provide Americans with the abundance and prosperity they’d fought hard for. That growth set the stage for the debut of Moffitt Services to establish itself as a bulk fuel distributor, to power all the vehicles and generators and other equipment it took to make the prosperity happen.

Over the years, Moffitt expanded into adjacent verticals including bulk lubricant storage and delivery, roll-off containers and other temporary site services. It was a slow and deliberate, but effective growth strategy for the company, whose headquarters are in Cypress, Texas, with satellite locations in George West, Midland and Dallas. 

At the time of this writing, Moffitt had teams deployed to recent tornado damage paths in Oklahoma. But it was a spontaneous “necessity is the mother of invention” type of moment that gave birth to Moffitt’s Disaster Response Services division.

Where it began

1983’s Hurricane Alicia was the company’s first experience delivering fuel specifically for disaster relief needs. 

“Alicia hitting our local market increased demand for our services, and highlighted a need for disaster-specific fueling,” says the company’s owner, Rusty Moffitt. “Earlier iterations of the Moffitt fueling companies responded to various disasters” on an ad hoc basis, he says. “Chief among them was responding to hurricanes Katrina, Rita and later Ike, in Houston. Our experience in these disasters shaped our practices for storms to come.”

And good thing, because they would be needed again, and soon.

Harvey hits 

Hurricane Harvey, a devastating Category 4 hurricane, struck the Gulf Coast of Texas in mid-August 2017. One of the most powerful hurricanes to hit the United States in decades, Harvey’s most catastrophic impact was unprecedented rainfall, making it the wettest storm system on record.

Harvey lingered over Texas for days, causing record-breaking flooding in Houston, where some areas reported nearly 50 inches of rain. This extensive flooding displaced thousands of people and damaged or destroyed homes, businesses and infrastructure across the city, and for more than 100 miles surrounding. 

Opportunity 

Moffitt wasted no time in stepping up to the challenge. 

“We initially responded to Corpus Christi, Rockport and Aransas Pass, while the storm was raging over Houston,” Moffitt says. “Hurricane Harvey flooded our Cypress fuel yard. We evacuated all our assets elsewhere; some to school parking lots, some to leased spaces. Some of our employees had to be picked up in our larger vehicles, to get them to work. Several employees’ homes were affected.” 

Moffitt sent teams to those employee’s homes to salvage property and muck out their inundated homes, in preparation for restoration work. Management had been watching ominous weather forecasts for weeks and anticipated potential need by staging vehicles and employees in areas less prone to flooding. This way, they’d be ready to work, if needed. They were.

Plunging in

Before the rain even stopped falling, the company had activated several crews, consisting of more than 200 people from all their locations and subcontractors, and deployed them to various parts of the affected area under the auspices of insurance restoration contractors and property management firms.

They delivered fuel for backup generators providing power to hospitals, commercial spaces, police stations, courthouses, jails and housing units. While on standby for these deliveries, their office was receiving calls from friends, neighbors, acquaintances and customers to assist in various types of rescues. They eventually plucked more than 100 people from homes surrounded by floodwaters, delivering them to safety.

Moffitt was also called upon to help deliver supplies to local hospitals at the request of their customers. Just before Harvey hit, Moffitt had been in the market for a vehicle that could operate in a high-water environment as he has a passion for difficult projects and high-intensity work such as that following disasters.  

The company had located a retired military Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (Oshkosh Corporation)  — an eight-wheel-drive, diesel-powered, 10-short-ton tactical vehicle — at a local resale dealer. “We knew we wanted a unit capable of operating in disaster environments,” says Moffitt. “Harvey looked like a project that was going to need it.” 

They were able, with the dealer’s assistance, to close on the purchase in 24 hours, and immediately it was rolling. The HEMTT has the ability to operate in up to six feet of water, its frame designed with a modular rear section that could accommodate a variety of equipment configurations. During the Harvey event it was used as purchased, with a simple bed attached. Moffitt’s outfitters have since created their own rear modules, one for personnel transport, the other as a fuel delivery system. 

Originally appearing in the 2017 Hollywood production of War for the Planet of the Apes, the HEMTT has huge tires and enough weight to allow it to plow through heavily flooded areas while keeping its engine dry enough to keep working and its passengers dry. Moffitt now uses it for high-water fuel delivery and scouting places suspected of being flooded or otherwise inaccessible, before sending tankers or other vehicles into the area.

Bringing things back

After Harvey, Moffitt performed a muck-out and water/debris extraction beneath the Wortham Theater Center, a performing arts facility in downtown Houston. They performed similar services for Houston’s Kingwood Country Club, an upscale golf course and facility. Moffitt’s largest water extraction job during that event was Hewlett-Packard headquarters, in which they vacuumed up and carted off in excess of 40 million gallons of stormwater from the computer and technology company’s main campus.

During the whole ordeal, Moffitt Services was providing fuel to backup generators at NASA’s Houston Space Center. “We were approached by their general contractors to provide fueling services to their key facilities to maintain operations throughout Harvey,” Moffitt says.

The company’s debrief following the extended deployment turned up some nuggets of operations gold that allowed Moffitt to venture further into what appears to be a growth of business in disaster response and recovery. 

Driving future development

The consensus was that the biggest challenge of getting their work done was gaining access to locations requiring their services. “Due to the extreme flooding many who needed our services were unreachable by conventional methods,” Moffitt says. “This drove further procurement of boats and military vehicles to deliver our services.”

Given the increase in natural disasters, the company has learned to stay poised to respond to emergencies. “We have become very adept at anticipating potential disasters and having resources ready.” 

From start to finish, Moffit’s work on the Hurricane Harvey recovery took 18 months. When all was said and done, total damages from Harvey are estimated at $155 billion, making it one of the costliest natural disasters in U.S. history. Moffitt Services is proud of its role in helping to bring back metro Houston from arguably its worst natural disaster to date.