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Collision Repair Instructor Shares Harvey Experience by Victoria Antonelli
Hurricane Harvey tore through Houston at the end of August, causing an estimated $70 to $200 billion worth of damage and taking the lives of 70 Americans. It was the first hurricane to make landfall in the United States since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. Harvey was also the wettest tropical hurricane on record in the United States, with peak accumulations of 51.88 inches. The resulting floods destroyed hundreds of thousands of homes, displaced more than 30,000 people, and prompted more than 17,000 rescues. Jeff Wilson, a collision repair instructor at Kingwood Park High
School in Houston who started his career in education in 1995, shared his experience with Autobody News.
“I can say for certain that in my personal sub division over 2/3 of the homes, including mine, flooded,” said Wilson. “The entire community was affected and many were displaced due to flooding.” See Instructor Reports, Page 22
See Flooded Cars, Page 11
P.O. BOX 1516, CARLSBAD, CA 92018
ginning of the storm, and that trickle could become a stream in the coming
weeks, according to a local vehicle inspection company. “We’ve inspected over 100 cars in the last three days. We’ve already found seven flood-damaged vehicles, new and used. But yes, they’re ending up back on the streets, back to consumers,” Shane Vaughn, president of Auto Exam, a pre-sale vehicle inspection company, said. An estimated 500,000 vehicles are flood-damaged in the Houston, TX, area. About 30,000 of those vehicles have been
Change Service Requested
Flooded cars were already starting to trickle off dealer lots days after the be-
Hurricane Harvey Wreaks Havoc on Houston, Affected Body Shops Report on Damage by Chasidy Rae Sisk
When Hurricane Harvey hit the Southeast part of Texas during the weekend of August 25–27, many small towns
Harvey Flooded two-thirds of the homes in Jeff Wilson’s neighborhood
Flooded Cars Already Being Put Up for Sale by Joel Eisenbaum, Click 2 Houston
VOL. 35 ISSUE 10 OCTOBER 2017
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Credit: Patch.com
along the coast were utterly devastated and destroyed. However, the most damage was
sustained in Houston due to the city’s large size and denser population. Homes, vehicles and businesses were flooded, and at least 45 Houston lives were lost as Harvey unleashed its fury on the Lone Star State. Harvey hit the Texas coast on the evening of Aug. 25 as a Category 4 hurricane, with winds as high as 130 mph, ravaging the coastline. Houston residents awoke on Sunday to flooding that turned roads into rivers. John Kopriva, President of the Houston Auto Body Association (HABA), reported, “We normally get about 50 inches of rain annually in Houston, but during Harvey, we got 53 inches in just a few days.” Kopriva’s shop had 3 feet of water See Shops Affected, Page 12
Additional Hurricane Coverage p. 10, 16, 40, 63 SEMA Preview Coverage p. 9, 10, 18, 28, 48
Hurricane Harvey Ravaged Cars and Trucks — Bad for Drivers, Good for Automakers by James F. Peltz and David Montero, McRee Ford, Dickinson, Texas Los Angeles Times
with his insurance carrier yet; he’s been busy helping his parents clean out their wind-damaged house along the coast. He said he doubts he’ll get much anyway and is instead hoping
Perry Smith tried to race Hurricane Harvey. He lost. Now his white Toyota Corolla sits with a broken axle in the parking lot of a Strips convenience store in Rockport, Texas. It is, he admits, probably the end of the road for his trusty car with almost 190,000 miles on it. “The hurricane was right Harvey created epic flooding throughout Houston and on my tail,” Smith said. “It southeast Texas. Credit: Robert Gauthier, Los Angeles Times caught me. It lifted the back of the car up and I was looking down for some assistance from the Federal at the road through my windshield. Emergency Management Agency. Still, Texans already have filed Then—bam—it slammed back down more than 100,000 storm-related and that was it.” See Harvey Ravage, Page 20 Smith, 56, hasn’t filed a claim
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