"Due to the approach of Hurricane Floyd, this office is temporarily closed," said a telephone recording at the offices of Franklin Templeton Group in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.
Millions of people were evacuated from the East Coast last week as the hurricane rolled northward from the Bahamas.
Callers to Franklin Templeton in Nassau, Bahamas, were referred to the company's St. Petersburg, Fla., office.
"Well, we're safe but it just went from sunny to pouring rain here," said Franklin spokesman Paul Cooper at that office last Wednesday.
Mr. Cooper said he was unable to reach the company's offices in the Bahamas because telephone service was out.
The Nassau office was without power or phone service most of the week.
By Wednesday, the storm had moved up the coast and offices in southern Florida were open.
"We're back to normal. It was really a mild wind at best," said Robert Nagle, administrator of the $1.1 billion City of Miami Firefighters' & Police Officers' Retirement Trust.
A day earlier, phones had gone unanswered at the municipal pension fund offices in Miami, Miami Beach, Palm Beach and Boca Raton.
Still, some longtime Floridians ventured out.
"This happens every year," said Dan Jacobs, who answered the phone at Jacobs Asset Management Inc. in Fort Lauderdale on Tuesday.
"We get a scare. The county is under a hurricane warning so the building is officially closed. But I'm here unofficially. You do that when you have your own business. Besides, the storm's going to miss us."
Jacobs has $450 million in total assets under management, mostly for tax-exempt institutional investors.
The storm first moved onto land Wednesday night near Wilmington, N.C.
Executives at First Union Corp. in Charlotte, said their inland asset management operations were safe, but their First Union Wheat First brokerage unit in Richmond, Va., was on hurricane watch.
"We've got call trees set up and disaster response systems," said William Ennis, managing director of First Union's Evergreen Funds in Charlotte. "We've got a pretty disciplined approach to it and we're always optimistic, but we prepare," said Mr. Ennis.
The storm pounded Portsmouth, Va., with heavy rains early Thursday.
"Our offices are closed today because of Hurricane Floyd," said the voice message of Fred Martin, chairman of Virginia Investment Counseling Inc. in nearby Norfolk.
The firm manages about $1 billion in total assets, about half of which are institutional tax-exempt.
The next day, the office was open and reported no damage.
The board of directors for the $1.7 District of Columbia Retirement Board canceled its Thursday meeting because of the weather, rescheduling the event to the end of the month.
Officials at the City of New York sent non-essential personnel home early Thursday afternoon as the city was pelted by rain and faced the possibility of high winds.
"We'll be here as long as the market is open," said Leslie Mayock, spokeswoman for the Warburg Pincus Funds in New York.
On Friday, the city was back to normal.
