RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:
A year ago, Hurricane Harvey devastated many parts of Texas. It also slammed the petrochemical industry along the coast, releasing millions of pounds of pollution. That forced some companies to reassess how they prepare for big storms. NPR's Rebecca Hersher has been talking to chemical companies and the communities around them.
REBECCA HERSHER, BYLINE: Good to see you again.
JUAN FLORES: Likewise.
HERSHER: Juan Flores grew up and still lives in a neighborhood surrounded by industrial sites - a gas terminal on one side, a chemical company on another, and the busy Houston Ship Channel running along the edge. The biggest leak caused by Harvey happened a few blocks from his house. At least 460,000 gallons of gasoline released when a tank flooded. The whole area reeked. A year later, Flores took me out to see one of the most visible changes that he's noticed since the storm. Huge cylindrical tanks used to store petrochemicals now have geodesic domes on their roofs.
FLORES: You're starting to see them more. Like, look to the left. All those now have the dome on it. You see them?
HERSHER: Yeah, I see them.
FLORES: A while back, they weren't like that.
HERSHER: Some of the biggest leaks during Harvey, including the one in Flores' neighborhood, happened because the roofs of those tanks sank under the weight of rainwater. That allowed the chemicals inside to get out. These domes prevent that. Harvey made it inescapably clear how high the stakes can be for keeping chemicals contained. At one plant that lost power during the storm, a fire broke out, spreading pollution. Now that plant's owner is facing criminal charges. Rod Herrick manages a chemical facility for the company Covestro. He says they reassess their hurricane plans after every storm.
ROD HERRICK: The one thing I can say I've learned about hurricanes and tropical storms - there's never one that's the same.
HERSHER: Herrick's site didn't report releasing any additional pollution as a result of Hurricane Harvey, which he attributes in part to moving things to higher ground after the last big hurricane. In the year since Harvey, Herrick has taken it upon himself to collect info on what worked and what didn't from companies all over the region.
UNIDENTIFIED PERSON: It says severe weather preparedness and best practices.
HERRICK: Best practices. And it's got 35 pages, but it's got 65 pages of attachments on all these different...
HERSHER: In the binder, there's info about when to shut down, how to store different chemicals, plus mundane things you might not think of, like when there's a hurricane approaching, make sure that the people on the emergency team aren't on vacation. Hurricane season is in the summer, after all. Another thing you may not think of - employees won't show up to work if their homes are a mess. You have to stock the things they need to clean up.
HERRICK: Cleaning supplies - it can be mops, brooms, squeegees. It can be diapers. It can be feminine items that aren't available here that - you wouldn't even think about it. Women certainly would. So how do we take care of that?
HERSHER: Howard Kunreuther directs the Wharton Risk Management and Decision Processes Center at the University of Pennsylvania, and he wrote a book on how big companies manage risks from disasters.
HOWARD KUNREUTHER: It's the immediate impacts that are really important to them.
HERSHER: He says companies are generally more likely to spend money on things that pay off in the short term, like helping employees fix their homes, which isn't ideal. It would be better - and cheaper in some cases - to prepare for long-term disasters before they happen. He says a good way for companies and their boards to do that is to consciously change how they calculate risk. For example, the risk of a flood or hurricane happening next year might be low.
KUNREUTHER: It may be at the level of 1 in 100.
HERSHER: Maybe too low to justify spending money on, say, upgrading your tanks, but...
KUNREUTHER: If you look at the next 25 years, then there might be a greater than a 1 in 5 chance of at least one of those floods occurring. And when you mention 1 in 5, people pay attention to it, and they'll say, maybe I better start thinking about what I can do.
HERSHER: And he says regulators should do the same - think long term - because with climate change, the risks from storms are only getting worse.
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HERSHER: Rebecca Hersher, NPR News, Houston.
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