California PCOs Braving Bomb Cyclone ’Pineapple Express‘

SANTA MARIA, Calif. – Treacherous downpours, flooded streets, 50 mile per hour winds and structural damages are among the conditions California residents faced the last two weeks.

While California has suffered a drought the last several years, an atmospheric river, nicknamed a Pineapple Express, hit Northern areas of the state and then spread southward  coming from the Hawaiian shores.

As of Jan. 10, 17 people were reported dead from the rainfall and wind conditions.

Mary Hernandez, owner of Mission City Fumigation of Santa Maria and Hernandez Sewing., offers fumigation services and constructs fumigation tarps and other accessories.

Hernandez said “the rain and the wind cause a lot of problems” as 15 fumigators rely on her for work. Five tarps  were taken down yesterday from wind damage, which costs Hernandez time and money.

“There's a lot of people who cancel their jobs because they don't want us on their roofs or on their structures in the heavy rain,” she said. “The wind slows everything down for the production and then cancellations with not working you're not making money and you still have basic bills to pay.

“The wind slows everything down for the production," Hernandez said, and if jobs are cancelled, no one is working and making money but still having basic bills to pay.

“We’re going to take a nice hit on the revenue side,” she added.

Hernandez said there’s not much she, or the company, can do besides appreciate the employees who have worked through the storm.

“I’m reassuring them that the jobs that have postponed will reschedule, and we’ll be busy, so enjoy the time off and I’ve allowed them to take their vacation and sick time,” she said.

Not only do the storm conditions impact her company's revenue stream, but they affect the pest and termite control companies who subcontract with her.

“People don't want [technicians] in their house with the rain and they can't spray around [the perimeter] because of the runoff, so they're probably most definitely at a standstill also,” she said. “It affects them because they won't get paid and they're losing money too.”

Josh Fleenor, president of Pest Pros Pest Solutions, Sacramento, Calif., said the storm impacted his company’s ability to service residential homes.

“There is standing water, and then you have a little bit of resistance from clients with the rain,” he said. “The wind is a factor too because it'd be at a violation to treat in heavy winds.”

Fleenor said the company is fortunate to have commercial and multi-family housing units to work on in the meantime.

“We can find a lot of things to add value on doing more interior [work], whereas I have several friends in the industry that are 90% residential and they’re asking me how we’re still working,” he said.

The company has been creative with its marketing efforts to keep workflow steady, Fleenor said.

“The calls are definitely decreasing, but we're focusing more on the things that are going to be driven [indoors] with the rain like rodents and wildlife issues,” he said. “When it gets like these types of weathering conditions, rodents normally go into homes to find shelter.”

While Fleenor hasn’t considered Pineapple Express a “disaster,” the company does have rainy-day procedures in place. He’s been communicating with other pest control companies to share information on his own rainy-day protocols and offer business advice.