Success Stories for Texas
Co-ops Unify to Meet Rita's Challenge: Work crews descend on Louisiana, Texas to rebuild after storm.
As hurricanes go, Rita wasn't the worst. Just the same, this storm, which followed quickly on the heels of Hurricane Katrina, certainly left its own mark.
Rita, which struck near the border of Texas and Louisiana September 24, 2005, didn't pack Katrina's punch, but for co-ops in its direct path, the results spelled the same tragic litany: flooding, destroyed lines and poles and significant power outages.
Though weakening somewhat before making landfall, Rita's most intense eastern side slammed into the southwestern Louisiana district served by Jefferson Davis Electric Co-op, (Jefferson Davis) (LA-019), Jennings, Louisiana.
Swooping into the state, Rita knocked out power to 180,000 consumer-members, about 45,000 more than Katrina. Eight of Louisiana's 12 co-ops reported significant damage. The worst destruction was at Jefferson Davis, where eight of its employees and two co-op board members were left homeless. The co-op's concrete-block branch office in Cameron Parish was pulverized.
"It's just unbelievable, nothing left. It floors you to see this kind of thing," said Reggie Esthay, line operations superintendent for the co-op of 10,000 consumer-members.
A Safe Haven: Employees were able to immediately begin clearing debris and restoring their headquarters, thanks to the safe haven provided by a sister co-op, Pointe Coupee Electric Member Corporation (Point Coupee) (LA-015), New Roads, Louisiana, some 60 miles north.
Pointe Coupee workers found overnight housing for 10 of Jefferson Davis' employees, enabling them to return quickly after the storm to start the huge task of rebuilding. Esthay said the co-op constructed a tent city to lodge and feed an estimated 800 co-op line workers from dozens of states and private contractors. He said the inland side of the district could probably be restored within two to four weeks.
The area along the Gulf Coast was another story.
"There's no fixing anything there," Esthay said. "It will have to be rebuilt from scratch."
'A tremendous thing': The other heavily damaged Louisiana co-ops were making progress-restoring power to about 85,000 consumer-members within four days of the storm, said Randall Pierce, executive director of the Louisiana statewide.
Pierce said that co-ops in the path of the Category 3 storm-Beauregard Electric Co-op (Beauregard), Deridder, and Washington-St. Tammany Electric Co-op (LA-010), Franklinton, Louisiana-will have a long road to recovery.
"The problem at Beauregard is going to be water, flooding and trees down. Just getting to the damaged areas is incredibly difficult," Pierce said. "We can't estimate how long that will take."
He added that co-op crews from 35 to 40 states were in Louisiana-a workforce of about 4,000.
One of the biggest battles being waged is against fatigue.
"You've got these crews out there in the worst conditions," Pierce remarked. "You have people in offices talking with consumer-members and carrying out the incredibly hard job of coordinating out-of-state crews.
"But we have really seen how our circumstances have brought out the best in people, too. It's a tremendous thing to see this national co-op family come together," Pierce said.
Texas making progress: Eleven Texas co-ops were in harm's way, according to Tiffin Wortham, vice president of member services at Texas Electric Cooperatives.
At the height of the storm, half the meters in the service territories of those co-ops-more than 200,000 -were without power, he said.
By September 27, about 102,000 of those meters were still without power.
Jasper-Newton Electric Co-op (TX-125), Kirbyville, and Sam Houston Electric Co-op (Sam Houston), Livingston, bore the brunt of the storm, with complete system loss, Wortham said.
Deep East Texas Electric Co-op (Deep East) (TX-064), San Augustine, Texas, also saw severe damage.
Both Deep East Texas and Sam Houston are served by New Orleans-based Entergy Corp., which reported major losses to its transmission system.
"Progress continues in Texas and some customers may be restored by mid-week. But Entergy expects a long and difficult restoration in the aftermath of the extensive damage caused by Hurricane Rita," the company said in a September 27 statement.
The IOU delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
Help From Afar: Meanwhile, co-ops elsewhere were already in full assistance mode. As Rita whirled inland, help to repair the damage arrived quickly. Every Texas co-op that could was sending assistance, Wortham said.
"All of them that I've talked to so far have volunteered to come help," he said. "Membership is coming through, both locally and nationally."
Co-ops in New Mexico, Wyoming, Utah, and Montana also had crews on the way, though some of those might be sent to Louisiana, Wortham said, depending on the need. The issue of where to send crews is no small matter.
With two huge storms smacking the Gulf Coast in a matter of weeks, utilities in their paths were chasing the same supply of materials.
"We've had two hurricanes and three different areas that were hit, and we're all looking for contractors and men and equipment and supplies," Wortham said. "We've got a friendly rivalry with Louisiana. We're coordinating on where the crews go and trying to share the best we can."
Statewides have done a good job of coordinating the efforts, he said. "The statewides seem to communicate real well. Everything seems to be holding its own." !
Compliments of NRECA's "Electric Co-op TODAY", September 30, 2005 edition, Volume 11.
October 2005