Gulf Coast Glass Shops Brace Themselves for Hurricane Dolly

With winds of 100 miles per hour, Hurricane Dolly, a category 2 storm, made landfall today along the Gulf Coast, and glass shops in the area have seemingly wasted no time fleeing the wrath of the storm. USGNN.com™ called numerous shops in Brownsville, Port Isabel and Harlingen, Texas-all in the direct sight of the storm-to find out what they are doing in preparation, but only one local shop was open. When Rigo Ramburo of Ranco Glass in Brownsville, Texas, answered the phone he quickly said the shop was closed.

"We closed yesterday," says Ramburo, who explained he was busy boarding up not only the store but his and his family's homes, too.

According to the Weather Channel (www.weather.com) as of 1 p.m. CDT, the center of Hurricane Dolly was about 35 miles northeast of Brownsville and moving west-northwest at only 7 miles per hour.

In Corpus Christi, which is about 150 miles north of Brownsville on the Gulf Coast, shops are just experiencing a great deal of rain and heavy winds. While that area may not be the direct target of the storm this time, residents and businesses there have certainly been hit before. And what do glass shops do when they are impacted by a hurricane?

"We stock up on plywood and sandbags," says Sonjia Peterson, account manager for Evins Glass in Corpus Christi. And yes, she adds, "the days following the storm are extremely busy" as there is much broken glass to be replaced.

Back in Brownsville, Ramburo can't say for sure what business will be like for his company after Dolly passes through.

"We won't know how busy we will be until afterwards" when they see how much damage was actually done.

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