When Hurricane Laura forced people out of their Louisiana homes, Phillip Tarver opened his Toyota dealership as a place of refuge.
Lake Charles Toyota sheltered 31 people and nine animals Aug. 27 as the hurricane blew through southwest Louisiana, damaging homes and businesses. In the weeks after the storm, the dealership continued to be home base for store employees and community members whose homes were left unlivable. More than a dozen people spent at least some of that time camping out on air mattresses in offices or in RVs parked behind the store.
And last week, Lake Charles Toyota reopened for business even as it continued to host three people whose homes remained without electricity.
“We are taking care of our people,” Tarver told Automotive News.
Tarver runs the store with his two sons, Corey and Eric. The trio spent the past three weeks “making the dealership as much like home as we possibly can” for those who needed the shelter, Corey Tarver said.
To do that, the dealership’s central offices were converted into living quarters equipped with air mattresses, provided by the Tarvers. A shower and air conditioning were available. Some people brought RVs to park at the dealership, which has been operating on generator power.
Phillip Tarver provided enough food to cover two meals each day for the temporary residents, who took turns cooking breakfast and dinner on a gas grill.
He has spent nearly $20,000 supplying food, fuel and generators.
Tarver and his family — including his wife, their parents and their sons — were among those sheltering at the dealership during and after the storm.
Tarver was able to move home last week.
While people were assigned to sleep in separate offices by family unit for privacy reasons, safety measures to protect against the coronavirus took a back seat to the present challenge of the hurricane.
“On the order of magnitude the hurricane presented, COVID was kind of an afterthought in everyone’s memory,” Corey Tarver said.
Many of the people living at the dealership had running water at home but were unable to return without power because of the “unbearable heat,” Corey Tarver said. Temperatures in the region in the recent weeks have hit the upper 90s, with humidity levels reaching more than 90 percent.
Don Bradley, the dealership’s building maintenance administrator, has been living at the dealership since the night of the hurricane, which tore shingles off his house, ripped out a fence, uprooted trees and damaged his shop.
“Originally I was going to stay in my home, but I’m glad I went to the dealership,” said Bradley, who has spent his days cleaning up debris and assessing damage sustained at Lake Charles Toyota. The storm destroyed the service department canopy and damaged two exterior walls of the dealership.
Justin Hill, head baseball coach at McNeese State University in Lake Charles and a longtime family friend of the Tarvers, stayed at the dealership with his son. He called it home — a place to eat, shower, rest and recharge as the community rebuilds.
“I’m thankful for Mr. Phillip to be able to offer that resource,” said Hill, who was able to move home Sept. 11. “It’s more than you could ask for right now.”
Phillip Tarver said his main priority in the aftermath of the storm was supporting his 150 employees and their families.
The dealership’s “refugee family,” as Corey Tarver described the group living at the store, has been shrinking as people’s homes regain power.
As of late last week, three people, including Bradley, were still staying at Lake Charles Toyota but had relocated to the RVs.
Phillip Tarver set up a temporary donation center at the dealership for employees and community members. He also is loaning cars to those in need of transportation.
“It’s a great show of humanity and how things really should be when there is a catastrophic event that happens in our country,” Hill said.
Hurricane Laura hit just as dealership operations were getting back to normal after the coronavirus pandemic hindered business in the spring, Tarver said. Lake Charles Toyota essentially had no customers in April and sold less than 20 percent of what is typical in May as the state’s shelter-in-place measures restricted customer traffic.
“We were just getting inventory back, just getting our head above water and starting to make some progress and getting back to financial health,” Tarver said.
Money from the federal Paycheck Protection Program helped the dealership during that time. Corey Tarver declined to share the exact amount obtained through the program, but data released by the U.S. Small Business Administration shows the store received a loan amount between $1 million and $2 million.
Now it’s time to rebuild in a different way. Lake Charles Toyota reopened Wednesday, Sept. 16, with limited staff and hours. It continues to be powered by generators and will rely on a mobile hot spot for Internet access until regular service is restored. That may take several weeks.
Electricity is expected to be restored to most utility customers in southwest Louisiana by Sept. 30 at the latest, according to power company Entergy Louisiana.
Service and sales will share the showroom for at least a month as repairs are made throughout the dealership. It will take an estimated $2.6 million in repairs to return Lake Charles Toyota to pre-hurricane condition.
“If the place is completely rebuilt by the first of the year, I’ll be very pleased,” Corey Tarver said.