Rental generators kept the mildew from damaging homes.

Richard Dias is a high-end homebuilder in the Rockport area.

“When it comes to developing raw land or new home construction, we’ve got to have power almost before we do anything,” says Dias, who started the business 37 years ago after migrating from Ohio. “And if we’re in a rural area, sometimes that’s not available, and we have to build power lines to them.

“So we’ve always relied on Cat portable generators, both during construction, and sometimes after construction,” he says. “This was the first time I’ve come across a crisis situation like the hurricane we went through.”

For five days in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey , the temperature hovered around 100 degrees with no wind. It rained for a day and a half after the storm, and there was no power, therefore, no air conditioning and no refrigeration.

“We had no food or water source—all these things that we take for granted,” Dias says. “The other thing we take for granted is lights, and there were no lights.  And when it got dark it was a dark like you’ve never seen before.”  

He credits the timely response from Holt Power Systems for saving millions of dollars worth of homes.

“Within hours Holt Cat was on the road with seven large portable generators for us to get my business back up, my home back up, and our other clients back up,” Dias said. “We have some very expensive homes that, had they gone without power for three, four, five weeks, the mildew here would have ruined them. It saved literally millions of dollars of property here by having those generators.”

Cat rental generator sets ran for four days without interruption at his personal residence and office. 

“I remember the first night that I got the generator running in my home and we had air conditioning for the first time in four days,” Dias recalls. “Just being able to sleep with air conditioning and knowing you can turn a light on was pretty incredible.”