Home to several dozen adult entertainment companies, the southern region of the state was hard hit by Wilma, which at her peak packed winds of 125 mph. Those within the 90-mile eye of the storm took a double beating that left nearly 4 million Floridians without power, nine dead, and long lines for water, food and gas. Not to mention an estimated $4 billion-$8 billion in damage.
And while most of the adult businesses in Florida managed to keep their websites up and running and webmaster payouts on a regular schedule, the worst aspect of the hurricane was the effect it had on personal lives and the day-to-day struggles of living without power and with limited food resources.
SEGuru, also known as Daron Babin, told XBiz that some of his employees weren’t even able to make it to work because they couldn’t get gas for their cars. Babin, who was in his boat when the hurricane first hit, decided to get his wife and mother-in-law out of Deerfield Beach after he ran into a man wandering the street looking for his shed that had taken flight in the storm.
“Let’s put it this way, our offices that house the YNOT radio studio looked like a bomb had been dropped on the lot,” Babin said. “Glass was shattered everywhere. We couldn’t even get the door open to the office to assess the damage. It’s been really crazy.”
Babin’s YNOT Radio show is currently using the hotel Doubletree’s bandwidth to keep a regular schedule of broadcasts, but until he and his staffers can access their offices, there will be no live broadcasts. However, since his business is housed in a bank building, Babin expects that water and power will be restored within a day or so, sooner at least than most homes in the area.
“In general, it was very, very scary,” Moniker.com’s Matthew “Chipmunk” Sclier told XBiz. “I watched apartments being ripped open, car windows exploding, glass breaking, and trees and power lines falling.”
Fortunate for Moniker, based in Pompano Beach, the company’s servers are located out of state and business was unaffected. But with a nightly curfew and limited gas, just dealing with the basic day-to-day aspects of survival have been a challenge, Sclier said.
As of today, he was still eating canned foods, including a newfound favorite: Chef Boyardee on the grill.
Other adult companies managed to weather the storm as well, including TrafficCashGold and CyberCat. Even MacDaddyBucks reported that things are pretty much business-as-usual, although employees have been profoundly affected by the storm.
Mike Strauss of MayorsMoney and StiffyCash said that while his sites remain online, he’s working with a skeleton crew and has been busy chasing down Verizon Wireless cards for temporary Internet access, since most other wireless carriers like Nextel and T-Mobile are still disabled by the storm.
With his servers located safely in New Jersey, Strauss said his business was never affected and all critical services have been maintained, including webmaster payouts. Fortunately, Strauss’ corporate offices are located in an area of Florida where power has been restored and many of his employees are camping out in the office so they can access hot showers, food and electricity.
Without a doubt, says Strauss, the hurricane was the worst he’s seen since he moved to Florida, adding that until life resumes as usual, his company will be restricted to just basic functioning.
“It’s been mentally draining, no doubt about it” Sclier said. “A lot of people were right in the eye, so it hit really, really hard and then cleared, and then we got backhanded and it was really rough. We saw railings and screen doors being blown off and furniture floating through the air.”
Tom Catterson of iBill told XBiz that Wilma was the worst hurricane he’s ever seen. While he believes most Floridians were prepared for the storm, the aftermath has been tough to deal with. The iBill offices opened Friday for the first time since Wilma hit and a limited crew of employees are just now getting down to the task of answering emails, returning phone calls and assuring clients that it is business-as-usual.
“Everyone is ok physically,” Catterson told XBiz. “We’re back on track. Power has been restored to 50 percent of Dade, Broward and Palm Beach Counties – the three most affected regions.”
Babin added that in general, he feels the hurricane devastation has been widely underreported by the press. Babin was told the power at the home he shares with wife Brandy won’t be restored until the end of November, at least according to Florida Power and Lighting, and even that isn’t for sure.
“You can’t make two Bush’s look bad,” Babin said, referring to President Bush’s highly criticized handling of Hurricane Katrina and now Florida Gov. Jeb Bush finding himself in a similar situation with Wilma.
“I’m definitely looking forward to a hot shower and shave,” Sclier said.
