This El Niño has not lived up to its name. In Spanish, El Niño means The Little One,* but there has been nothing small about this most recent weather phenomenon.

El Niño is a complicated weather pattern, but it basically results from interaction between the surface layers of the ocean and the overlying atmosphere in the Pacific, and involves unstable air and sea interaction and planetary scale oceanic waves. These changes produce unusually warm weather in the Pacific Ocean, frequently around the beginning of a calendar year.

El Niños occur on an inconsistent basis about every two to seven years. Every El Niño is different. Some are greater in magnitude and some are longer in duration than others.The 1997-98 El Niño is very strong.

The impacts of El Niño are most often felt in the winter. Typically during El Niño years, temperatures in the winter are warmer than usual in the North Central United States, and cooler than normal in the Southeastern and Southwestern United States. Also typical is increased rainfall across the Southern tier of the United States. El Niño affects other weather events, too. It is thought that El Niño suppresses the development of tropical storms and hurricanes in the Atlantic Ocean, and tends to increase tropical storms in the Pacific Ocean.

The effects of this El Niño have been felt across North America from coast to coast in many different forms. Rain. Snow. Ice. Wind. Flooding. Mud slides. Homes and businesses are still recovering from devastating damage, and more El Niño influenced weather is on the way.

To show how ServiceMaster has responded in a big way to The Little One, here are some short descriptions of what some business owners across the country have been called upon to handle recently. Keep in mind that, at press time, many ServiceMaster business owners in the hardest-hit areas of the country were simply too busy taking care of customers to talk to Restoration Report about the weather events in their area. Here are what some of the ones we could catch up with had to say.

*Other translations include, `Little Boy" and "The Christ Child."

Redwood, California
Heavy rains coincided with high tide and caused a creek in Palo Alto, Calif, to overflow, flooding homes in a two- to three-mile radius. Fortunately, according to John Sappingfield of ServiceMaster Disaster Restoration Services, many of the homes were in a floodplain, so at least 50 percent of the people had flood insurance. "It got so bad that the city put dumpsters on every block for people to use to dispose of furniture and other household items irreparably damaged by the flood waters," Sappingfield says.The water, mud, and silt measured six inches to six feet in the damaged homes. Sappingfield says that the restoration calls came in such large numbers that his crews had to do temporary cleans initially, and then return to the homes at later times to finish the claims. "What was really sad was that this disaster brought so many `vultures' out," Sappingfield notes. "Many unqualified people were making the rounds claiming to be disaster companies, and asking exorbitant amounts of money to help people get their homes back in shape. And, people were paying it because they were desperate." Sappingfield says that he thinks that the area is over the worst now.

Ventura, California
Edgar Lawson of ServiceMaster by Lawson says that flooding in his area has kept his crews running 14-hour days. "Our business has over 100 air movers and 35 dehumidifiers, and we've still had to rent another 100 air movers," he reports. "There are simply no other pieces of equipment available in this area. We've maxed out." Lawson says that Ventura County and Santa Barbara have been the hardest hit.

Woodstock, Georgia
Mike Harris reports unusually warm weather and a lot of rain in his area, causing water damage and flooding. Although the area has had high winds, Harris says that minor roof damage is the extent of the wind damage his business has handled. "El Niño is keeping it warm," he says, reporting 50-degree temperatures. He tells a story about one of his clients, who came home from a trip to Memphis to find flooding in her home. "She's an insurance representative who had been in Memphis meeting with our ServiceMaster Disaster Restoration people," he says. "When she got home and found her home flooded, she knew exactly who to call!"

Nashua, New Hampshire
Chris Evensen, President of ServiceMaster AAA Able Associates, says that they were recently summoned by one insurance carrier to go into Maine to handle about 500 claims resulting from recent ice and snowstorms in the area. Especially hard hit by the storm, Evensen says that the area was experiencing power outages of up to one month. "There had also been multiple furnace malfunctions," she says. "Surprisingly, there was not much water damage due to frozen pipes that we saw, but there was a lot of tree damage."

Shenadoah Valley, Virginia
Snowfall of up to two feet and more in the Shenadoah Valley caused roof collapses, water damage, and frozen pipes. "It's been quite interesting, here," says Rusty Arbaugh, owner of ServiceMaster of the Shenadoah Valley. "Most of the people we've helped have been covered by insurance. I have a very large area, so we've seen a lot of damage."

Virginia Beach, Virginia
Rising ground water due to heavy rains has wrecked havoc in Virginia Beach, according to John Craver of ServiceMaster Cleaning Services." Even in the flood zone, where insurance is required, the sump pumps haven't even worked in many cases," he says. "We took 5,000 gallons of water out of one house last week to help save it. Dehumidifiers and blowers are helping to minimize the damage pretty well. Since we've had winds running between 50 and 70 miles an hour, we've also seen a lot of damage caused by wind driven rain coming in through doors and patios." Craver also says he was called by an insurance company to consult on damage suffered by a large hotel facility. "This hotel had 67 flooded rooms, as well as damaged ballrooms," he says. "I surveyed the damage and offered advice on carpet replacement and restoration."

West Cobb County, Georgia
Rain and storms that hit the area hard during the first week of February caused problems in Atlanta and the surrounding areas. "We had some pretty bad storms that came through," says Bill Barbee, ServiceMaster of West Cobb owner. "Mostly, we saw damage to basements caused by surface run-off water, and we also took some fallen trees off of houses."

Richmond, Virginia
Two disaster representatives at ServiceMaster of Richmond, Lisa Oliver and Mimi Caudery, have been very busy these days. "Several storms have hit here recently," Oliver explains. "In fact, we are working on some houses for the third time in two weeks due to flooding." Oliver says that one commercial building in the area has had such drastic basement flooding that ServiceMaster has been on site non-stop for two weeks. "Our ground is saturated from the rain; there is simply nowhere for the water to go except into homes and businesses," Oliver says. Caudery agrees. "We've had a few big commercial jobs from businesses that have never had water problems before. And, in one customer's house, we've extracted three inches of water three different times."

Safeco Program Gets Help To Southern California Clients Quickly
Safeco Region Property Analyst Matthew Perrin knows firsthand about the effects of El Niño in California.

"Basically, we've had a lot of wind and a lot of rain," Perrin reports. "So far, there hasn't been a lot of flooding except in Northern California.The damage has been moderate to light, luckily we haven't seen much severe damage. But, we've got more storms coming in, and other storms are brewing."

A new test program implemented in September has helped Perrin and Safeco meet the needs of those Southern California clients who have suffered damages from El Niño weather patterns.With the new program, when the insured first calls Safeco to report damages, Safeco representatives gather information about the claim, such as the extent of the damage and whether there is standing water on the premises. When situations indicate the need, the Safeco representative suggests that emergency restoration services be brought in immediately. Through a loss assignment arrangement with ServiceMaster and another disaster restoration company, Safeco dispatches claims to one of the two companies, and workers are on site within two to four hours. The disaster restoration company then takes immediate recovery steps within a previously agreed upon scope of services to mitigate the damages as quickly as possible.

"So far, this program has cut our turnaround time by over 50%," Perrin says. "And the amount of damages has been significantly lessened, because we get someone out to the site sooner. Our clients are thrilled with the prompt service."

This new Safeco test program is another example of how prior planning can pay off for everyone in disaster situations.To find out how you can implement such a program, contact the ServiceMaster location nearest you, or call 1-800-RESPOND (500-737-7663).