Condo Media - December 2011 - 34

COVER STORY

Hurricane Irene spread throughout Vermont. Of the 50 resort condominium communities TPW manages in the state, at least 20 suffered some damage. Eight, including Okemo, are facing multimillion-dollar repairs, mostly attributable to the massive flooding that took everyone by surprise. As the storm intensified on Sunday night and the rainfall forecasts became “alarming,” Carroccio says, “we began

relationships to get contractors, electricians, plumbers, engineers and excavation companies lined up and ready to begin work by Tuesday morning. Insurance adjusters also were onsite and beginning to assess the damage that day, Carroccio says.

Finding a Way
The challenges were numerous and formidable. At a condominium community located near Pico Mountain in

Extraordinary runoff from Hurricane Irene that came pouring down the mountains left unprecedented cleanup projects for condominium owners in its wake.

to worry about flooded roads.” But because TPW’s properties weren’t located near major waterways, he says, they weren’t particularly concerned about flooded buildings. You base emergency planning, in part, on past experience, he notes, but the “extraordinary runoff” that came pouring down the mountains was unprecedented. “There was no way to prepare for that.” When the storm abated on Monday, TPW went immediately into “triage mode,” Carroccio says. The first priority: ensuring the safety of residents and TPW staff; the second, “stabilizing the buildings” to prevent further damage. “We called every vendor we know,” Carroccio says, capitalizing on existing

Killington, 30 ground-floor units were filled with swampy water, making mold a serious and imminent concern. Management staff had decided to remain overnight so they were onsite, but roadways leading to the community had been washed out. For five days, until the National Guard was able to reopen the roads, TPW used a helicopter service to fly essential equipment and supplies into the community and to shuttle employees in and out. “Because we were able to get those units opened, cleaned and gutted right away so they could dry out,” Carroccio says, “we probably prevented tens of thousands of dollars in additional property damage.”

No one, TPW included, had envisioned the contours of this disaster, but the company had a disaster management plan in place, and it served the company and its clients well. Among other steps, the plan called for temporarily restructuring TPW’s corporate staff. “We took the entire company hierarchy and pushed everyone down a level,” to make sure the most experienced staff members were in the field, Carroccio explains. “We converted our corporate management into an emergency army.” Carroccio and his father, Paul T. Carroccio, CMCA, AMS, PCAM, the company’s chief executive, became regional managers and the company’s three regional mangers became association managers, backed up by the 30 association managers already in the field. They transferred staff from Delaware to Vermont to help with the emergency response effort and turned their corporate office into an operations base and a communications hub. Although one of the company’s field offices was virtually destroyed by the storm, “we had redundancy in the corporate office,” Carroccio says. “All of our data management and technology are cloud-based. Everything was backed up, so we didn’t lose any data.” They also didn’t lose any time communicating with clients. On Monday, only hours after the storm had ended, TPW began conducting webinars for board members at affected communities to explain the steps the company was taking, answer questions and address the concerns of owners, most of whom have primary residences in other states. Using “awesome” technology, Carroccio says, they were able to display pictures of the properties so trustees could see for themselves the extent of the damage and begin discussing the decisions they would have to make. Okemo’s trustees and owners appreciated the company’s response. “TPW really grabbed the ball and ran with it,” Kattalia says. Board members also stepped up in a big way. The community’s trustees have traditionally adopted

CONDO MEDIA • DECEMBER 2011

Condo Media - December 2011

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