MIAMI--Hurricane Wilma, which hit the Miami/Fort Lauderdale area Oct. 24, drew fewer national headlines than the earlier Katrina, but Wilma’s impact was felt for as much as two weeks by some optical suppliers and retailers here.

Widespread power outages and downed phone lines disrupted communications and kept businesses shuttered in the days immediately after the storm. Travel--and shopping--around the region was also hampered by the loss of electricity, which prevented traffic signals from working and gas stations from pumping fuel.

Among the optical firms affected, Ultra Palm Optical, in North Miami Beach, was closed for a week after the hurricane, with power not back on until Oct. 31 and phone lines having problems, according to co-president Brad Besner, and a number of company employees lost power in their homes. Ultra Palm also was unable to get some orders as well as its monthly statements out on time.

Frank Rescigna, president of Boca Raton-based 1-800-ClipOns.com, told VM, “The day after the storm, we were able to get to the building. We had only a little leaking, but no real damage; however, we had no phones and no power. We found out that our phones were active, but the system was down. But Bell South rerouted the company phone line to our home, where we had an old analog phone that worked. We called all our customers to let them know what was happening. The customer base was fantastic, and very concerned. The day we opened again we had quadruple the number of orders we usually would--I think some people realized what we had gone through and gave us some extra business.”

BPI general manager Tim Rivett said, “About one-third of our roof was damaged,” and a temporary roof had to be installed. BPI had to stop production when the power went out, but started up again a week later, then began shipping again as soon as UPS was available. Added Rivett, “We had the phones transferred to private lines on the first or second day, using analog lines. It was difficult to get through to us, so we put up a warning on the Internet to let our customers know.

Wayne Goldman, president of Tuscany Eyewear, commented, “During Wilma, we think a tornado hit the top of our building and tore off the roof seal, so rain flooded the building, mostly the showroom and offices and part of the warehouse. We got a company to help us move out the furniture and computers, remove the carpet and clean up the damage; we had just put it all back, then we had more rain Oct. 31--the roof repair didn’t hold, so we had water damage again.”

Finally, Goldman said, the roof was fixed, and Tuscany was back in action, although much of the company’s work was done via cell phones, since it didn’t have full land-line service back for a while. “Customers calling our business number were forwarded to a cell phone, then we called them back to take orders,” he explained. “People have been very patient, and we really appreciate it.”

Goldman said Tuscany had planned to relocate shortly, and “we’re still on track for that; we’ve learned a lot about the kind of protection and backup help we’ll need for that new HQ.”

Paul Diaz-Asper, president of Allison USA, told VM, “We went for a week without power--it was rough, though, without hot water and power and computers.”

Added Diaz-Asper, “It’s been quite a season, with some seven storms in Florida this year.”

On the retail side, Lisa Wolman, president and chief executive officer of For Eyes Optical, headquartered in Hialeah, said, “We have an established hurricane protocol, due to all the activity, unfortunately, that has happened down here over the years, and have done many drills to try to anticipate what might be necessary. In the case of Wilma, our lab here was up and running immediately--the next day, in fact; we had back-up generators for the lab as well for our stores.”

Wolman said For Eyes’ 15 locations in the affected areas were all open after the storm. “Our employees have been fantastic in helping out despite, for many, a lot of disruption in their own lives,” she said. “Some of them lost everything, and we’re in the midst of putting together some programs to help them out.

“People around the country really have no idea of how catastrophic this has been,” she added. “It’s not the same exactly as Katrina, but there were a lot of challenges nevertheless: no gas for the first week, difficulty getting around once people could drive, and it took more than one week for phone service and power to get back into the area. There was a lot of concern from within the For Eyes community about welfare of their colleagues and we also appreciate the concerns of suppliers and friends; it’s been hard, but we’ve been very lucky.”

Luxottica Retail had 113 Sunglass Hut locations in the affected area that were forced to close as the hurricane passed through, but all reopened. Three other Sunglass Huts located in Macy’s stores in the region were temporarily closed because of water damage to the host stores, a spokesperson said.

At least one of Luxottica’s LensCrafters locations, in Pompano Beach, was severely damaged when the strip mall it was in was hit by the hurricane.

Among labs affected by Wilma, Kosh Ophthalmic in Fort Lauderdale, part of the Essilor Laboratories of America network, was closed for several days after the storm but was up and running by Nov. 7. An Essilor spokesperson said Kosh’s orders are being fulfilled by another ELOA lab, Milroy Optical, in Tampa during the time Kosh was down.