Almost three days before Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, hardware retailer Home Depot Inc received an alert from a weather service and activated its disaster-response plan to get supplies to those in the storm’s path, while turning a profit, too.
Then, as Harvey gained power and made landfall late on Friday, the world’s largest home improvement retailer set up a temporary hurricane command center at its Atlanta headquarters. It told managers to freeze prices and move plywood, generators, chainsaws and other storm-related merchandise to the front of stores.
