T&D World

SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT
DECEMBER 2017 tdworld.com
Hurricanes
Respond Rebuild Recover
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WHEN THE
POWER
GOES OUT,
SO DO THEY.
Southwire salutes Americas frst responders and linemen.

THANK YOU for your valiant hurricane response efforts.
2017 Southwire Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

Registered Trademark & Trademark of Southwire Company, LLC.
The Double Whammy
By James R. Dukart, Contributing Writer
L
eave it to Mother Nature to throw two Cat- listing and detached poles and debris lined
egory 4 hurricanes at the U.S. mainland the highways and roads. On residential streets,
the month before my wedding. And, leave curbs were lined with household items such
it to Rick Bush, T&D Worlds strategic director, as mattresses, furniture, appliances and torn-
to dangle in front of me the chance to fy down out sheetrock. At commercial locations it was
and cover them both again, just a month be- much the same, albeit with the added visual
fore my wedding.Im so glad my then soon-to- shock of seeing hundreds of ruined chairs and
be and now lovely wife, Lisa, is so understand- mattresses from a hotel piled atop one another
ing because, of course, I could not say no. for disposal, and a pizza parlor parking lot with
If you cover this industry, you know the best about 12 arcade and pinball games set out in
of the best bring out their best when the weather and condi- the sun to dry.
tions are the worst. As mainstream media reported, and as Another common sight was utility trucks and utility work-
recounted in the following pages of this special supplement, ers. They were constantly everywhere, and it became like a
electric utilities not only had mutual assistance plans in place variation of the childrens car-ride game to see what trucks
months before the hurricanes, but most already had experi- from how many utilities could be spotted and named in one
ence with severe storms over the last several years. Many had drive. They came from far and wide, as did contractors and
at least one and sometimes more training drills to prepare for relief agencies. And at just about any open hotel, breakfast
storm restoration. lounges and lobbies flled with high-visibility worker vests,
Utilities created priority lists of line crews volunteering hard hats and work boots. Everywhere, people were saying
for mutual assistance or out-of-territory duty. Crews were as- thank you to anyone who looked like they were working with
sembled and prepped as national weather reports increas- the power company to get their lights restored.
ingly narrowed predictions that Hurricanes Harvey and Irma On to Florida a week later, and it was more of the same.
would hit landfall near Corpus Christi, Texas, and Naples, In a Bonita Springs Home Depot parking lot, a CenterPoint
Florida, respectively. Energy crew told me they had been working 11 straight days,
Of course, there are considerations beyond my own per- frst in Houston and then in southwest Florida (including
sonal schedule that should be taken into account when cover- two days of travel to Florida). Inside the Home Depot, lum-
ing storm restoration. Major storms bring curfews, travel bans, ber shelves were bare. Outside and across the street from the
fuel shortages, and airport and road closures. First responders store was a residential neighborhood still underwater. The
are, appropriately, frst in, followed by utilities. The press and crew could not work there yet, but there were plenty of other
public want to see and know what is happening after a storm, downed poles and lines to address.
but there are more pressing priorities. Later in the day, a crew from Kansas City Power & Light let
Thus, T&D World was on the ground in and around Corpus me observe the restoration of a three-phase primary circuit.
Christi about four days after Harvey blasted the Texas coast The crew patiently and diligently checked all perpendicular
and in the week following Irmas assault on Florida. As cata- secondary circuits prior to re-energizing the line. The work
strophic as they were, both storms including Harvey with its took place near Punta Gorda, a bit inland but in a swampy,
record-breaking, relentless and deadly rainfall and fooding likely alligator-ridden area with many downed trees and near-
left behind plenty to see. ly impassable access roads to scattered houses.
Corpus Christi itself seemed relatively normal just days af- The work often was long, trying, sometimes treacherous
ter being hit by Category 4 Harvey, but my impression changed and, Im sure, seemingly never ending not to mention, for
as a guide from AEP Texas drove me out to the Port Aransas many, taking place thousands of miles away from the comforts
and Rockport areas, to the Gulf of Mexico and very close to of their home and family. But to watch the crews, you would
where the eye of Harvey landed. Along highways, wood poles never have known it.
either were gone or leaning at 20- to 45-degree angles, some Our guys volunteered for this, and they just love helping
still holding up line but many with line on the ground. Bill- people and getting the power switched back on, was how one
boards were blown out completely as well as several storefronts supervisor described it. You would think they would be hot,
and rooftops. In Port Aransas, which juts into the Gulf, the tired and just ready to go home, but theyre not. Almost all
damage was perhaps the worst, with banks of debris lining the the guys out here want to be here, as long as its going to take.
streets like snowbanks after a major Midwestern blizzard. People need electricity, and we want to make sure they get
Heading northeast, up to and into Houston, more leaning, it back.
December 2017 | T&D World 1

Hurricane
The 2017 hurricane season is redefining
everything utilities thought they knew
about hurricanes and restoration.
By Gene Wolf, Technical Writer
N
o matter what it is called or how it is described, this cussion about global warming and climate change being the
years hurricane season has not been what anyone reasons for this extreme weather, but no one knows for sure.
would consider normal. To the people of the Ca- Some experts say this is the new normal, while others say
ribbean, Gulf Coast and East Coast of the United extremely strong hurricanes are nothing new. It is hard to for-
States, monster storms were too many, came too often and get storms such as Katrina, Rita and Ike that devastated so
were too powerful. Climatological specialists will have a great many areas. That being said, scientists from the National Oce-
deal of data to work through, trying to explain what happened anic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the National
and what the future will bring. There has been a lot of dis- Hurricane Center (NHC) and the National Weather Service
2 T&D World | December 2017

Havoc
(NWS) expressed concern with the 2017 hurricane season
and its implications for the coming years.
Before this years onslaught of storms, NOAA advised that
the 2017 season had the potential to be extremely active be-
Stronger Storms
Hurricane Harvey stalled over
the Gulf Coast for days before
moving inland. Courtesy of NASA.
NOAAs prediction of an extremely active hurricane season

proved more than accurate. Within a period of a little more
than three weeks, four major storms had developed. The frst
cause of higher ocean temperatures in the Atlantic basin and was Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane (winds of 130 mph to
lower wind shears expected. NOAA also predicted there would 156 mph), which set records for devastation, fooding and mis-
be 14 to 19 named hurricanes, of which two to fve hurricanes ery in late August 2017, but that was only the beginning.
would be major (Category 3 or greater). However, no one had As September unfolded, Harvey restoration efforts were in
any idea how powerful extremely active would mean. full swing when a bigger monster storm appeared. It was a Cat-
By mid-September 2017, the NHC reported there had been egory 5 hurricane (winds of 157 mph or higher) named Irma.
six named tropical storms, one unnamed tropical depres- This, the seasons second major hurricane, was more powerful
sion and seven named hurricanes. With the changes tropical than the frst, setting a record with sustained 185-mph winds
storms have brought about, NWS began a new storm surge for 37 hours. As it crossed the Caribbean, whole islands were
alert system for 2017. NWS would issue watches and warn- decimated, but that was not the end.
ings for coastal fooding caused by each storm, no matter the While Irma ravaged the Caribbean, the third major hur-
strength. The weather service warned that hazards, like storm ricane, Jose, entered the area as a Category 4 storm. Jose fol-
surges, can occur even during storms with low wind speeds. lowed closely behind Irma on much the same path through
Most hurricane causalities come from water in the form of the Leeward Islands. Fortunately, it stalled in the Bermuda
fooding caused by rainfall, waves and storm surges. Triangle, giving authorities across the region time to begin

the Irma restoration effort. After a week
of uncertainty, Jose lumbered up the
East Coast with tropical storm warn-
ings as far north as Massachusetts and
Rhode Island.
At the same time Irma and Jose were
impacting the Caribbean, a fourth hur-
ricane Category 2 Katia (winds of 96
mph to 110 mph) was doing dam-
age along Mexicos Gulf Coast. It came
ashore as a Category 1 storm (winds of
75 mph to 95 mph) with heavy rain and
fash fooding between Tampico and the
city of Veracruz. According to the NHC,
this was the frst time since 2010 three
simultaneous hurricanes were active in
The force of Hurricane Harveys Category 4 winds and storm surge lef the electrical infrastruc-
the Atlantic basin, but the onslaught still ture damaged all along the coast. Photo by Jim Dukart.
was not over.
As Irma and Katia lost energy, they became rain producers, played a role in Harveys impact on the area. Each of the highs
and the Atlantic basin produced another Category 5 storm, was trying to push Harvey in the opposite direction, which
Hurricane Maria. Two weeks from the day Irma hit Puerto resulted in the hurricane stalling rather than quickly moving
Rico, Maria hit the island. This had truly been an active pe- inland and out of the area.
riod for hurricanes, and it was only midseason. The hurricane came ashore just northeast of Corpus Chris-
ti, Texas, between Port Aransas and Port OConnor. Harveys
A Diferent Kind of Hurricane eye passed directly over Rockport, Texas, and the damage was
Harvey was the eighth named storm of the 2017 season. It extreme, with entire blocks leveled by the hurricanes winds.
also was the third hurricane and the frst major hurricane for Reports estimated nearly every structure in Port Aransas and
2017. Harvey also holds the distinction of being the wettest Rockport sustained some degree of damage, with many build-
hurricane on record in the U.S. Harvey became a Category ings a total loss, and the electrical infrastructure took a di-
3 hurricane (winds of 111 mph to 129 mph) on Aug. 24 and rect hit. Power outages began as Harvey approached the coast
took aim at the Texas Gulf Coast. Unlike typical hurricanes, and increased after it made landfall. AEP Texas reported
Harvey intensifed right up to the time it came ashore. The 54 substations and 56 transmission lines were out of service,
extremely warm Gulf waters and moisture-laden atmosphere resulting in approximately 200,000 people without electricity
provided the fuel the storm needed to become a Category 4 around Corpus Christi and the surrounding communities.
hurricane, prior to making landfall on Aug. 25. Outages spread to Houston, Texas, and beyond as lights be-
In addition, two equal-strength high-pressure systems gan to blink and go out, with the main body of the hurricane
formed on either side of the advancing hurricane, which reaching the Texas coast. CenterPoint Energy reported more
than 49,000 customer (meter) outages,
but by evening, the number increased
to about 70,000. Guadalupe Valley Elec-
tric Corp. reported more than 16,400
customer outages. Entergy Texas also
reported more than 30,000 customers
without power.
All About the Water

The wind damaged some commu-
nities while massive rainfall fooded
others. In fact, the day after Harvey
became a tropical storm, some areas
thought they had dodged a bullet only
to have overfowing rivers food their
communities. It has been estimated that
more than 9 trillion gallons of water, or
Damage was so extensive to this distribution line that the only way to restore electrical service about 50 inches of rain, fell on Hous-
was to completely rebuild with new poles, conductor and hardware. Photo by Jim Dukart. ton during the tropical storm, causing

extreme fooding. Estimates for the en-
tire region southeastern Texas and
Louisiana ranged from 19 trillion to
22 trillion gallons. No matter how much
rain is attributed to Harvey, the experts
agree Harveys fooding broke all the
models, and they are calling it a 1000-
year weather event because of the extent
of the fooding and damage it caused.
The combination of fooding and
storm surge contributed to another
storm-related phenomenon called com-
pound fooding. With rain measured in
feet, the rivers were swollen and fow-
ing heavily toward the Gulf. Harvey
produced a storm surge of about 3 feet
to 9 feet, depending on the location.
In addition to the high winds, widespread flooding added to the problems of storm restoration
As storm surges go, this was not very in Houston, Texas. Courtesy of Thinkstock.
much, but it was moving inland at the
same time rain-caused runoff surge was moving down the riv- utilities to respond quickly. The technology also enabled
ers and streams. When the two surges met, the water piled up utilities to reroute circuits and reestablish power to customers
and spread out over the lowlands adjacent to these waterways without sending crews to do the work, which freed up crews
compound fooding. It also added more customer outages for other work.
than the initial hurricane itself as water levels rose. The use of commercial drones was another technology
On Aug. 28, Harvey moved back into the Gulf southeast used by utilities for faster restoration. At frst, the U.S. Federal
of Port OConnor and slowly drifted east-southeast, just off Aviation Administration (FAA) restricted the airspace above
the Texas coast. However, the rain continued unabated, add- the storm-ravaged region, but it did not take long for it to be-
ing to the fooding. A few days later, on Aug. 30, Harvey came gin issuing exceptions. In the days after Hurricane Harvey,
back on shore near Cameron, Louisiana, and headed north- the FAA issued 137 airspace authorizations for commercial
northeastward. At that point, it fnally started moving out of drone-related recovery efforts, which allowed specially sanc-
the devastated Gulf Coast area. Harveys slow movement from tioned pilots to fy in the restricted airspace. Local authori-
Aug. 25 to Aug. 30 meant the rain continued and the fooding ties, utilities, oil, gas, railroads, the Red Cross and others used
in southeastern Texas and Louisiana reached unparalleled drones for fooding assessment.
amounts. Many users noted the commercial drones were comple-
In a news release, Entergy Texas said, For six days, Harvey mentary to helicopters and not competition. The drones freed
moved at a snails pace across the Entergy footprint, dropping up the helicopters to do what they do best search and res-
more than 30 inches of rain in some areas, fooding neighbor- cue work. Commercial drones proved valuable by being cost
hoods and businesses. Entergy wasnt immune from Harveys effective, being able to fy lower and not risking pilots lives in
wrath, as 17 substations and miles of transmission lines were close congested neighborhoods.
damaged. At the height of the storm and fooding, customer Several utilities reported drones opened inaccessible ar-
outages exceeded 311,000. However, the number of people eas and provided high-resolution imagery in real time. This
affected by the loss of power ranged in the millions for the helped them to assess damage and deploy the right resources
entire storm-ravaged area. in the right places for power restoration. Utilities needed ev-
ery advantage available to battle the aftermath of Harvey, but,
A Diferent Response as restoration efforts progressed, they faced a new challenge
Harveys fooding limited the ability of utilities to get into on another part of the electrical grid.
storm-damaged areas and impacted restoration plans, but it
also was an opportunity for the use of some technologies the Cascading Catastrophes
utilities had in place to help in situations like this. The utilities On Aug. 31, as Harvey was moving out of the Texas-Loui-
had been storm hardening their systems since Hurricane Ike siana Gulf Coast region, Irma, the ninth named storm of the
pounded the area. They had replaced wood poles and struc- hurricane season, developed as a Category 2 hurricane. By
tures with concrete and composites. Sept. 5, it intensifed to a brutal Category 5 storm with winds
Many of the utilities in the affected area had invested in of 175 mph, which increased to 185 mph the next day and
state-of-the-art equipment smart meter network, smart headed toward the Caribbean. On Sept. 6, Irma became a
switches and other smart devices linked to sophisticated Category 5 hurricane, striking the Leeward Islands. It made
management systems. These smart grid technologies enabled successive landfalls in St. Martin, Ginger Island, the British

Rebuilding the electric grid of each of these islands will be
challenging. In many cases, Irmas high winds and fooding
removed everything in its path, so restoration will require to-
tal rebuilding and storm hardening, unlike previous restora-
tions. Irmas next target was Florida.
Path of Destruction
After wreaking havoc in the Caribbean, Irma made two
landfalls in Florida. The frst came on the morning of Sept.
10. Irma came ashore as a Category 4 storm in the lower Flor-
ida Keys, continuing its island destruction as it had in the Ca-
ribbean. Many of the Keys experienced extensive damage to
buildings from high winds and storm surge of an estimated
10 feet. After crossing the Keys, it made its second landfall lat-
er in the day as a Category 3 hurricane. It came ashore on the
Hurricane Irma, shown making landfall on the coast of Florida, was an west side of Florida at Marco Island, south of Naples, where
extremely powerful and catastrophic Cape Verde-type hurricane. Irma winds were measured at 142 mph just prior to the landfall.
was the strongest observed hurricane in the Atlantic since Hurricane
Wilma in 2005, in terms of maximum sustained winds. Courtesy of NASA. Once on land, Irma lessened to a Category 2 hurricane as
it moved inland. By the time it reached Tampa, it was a Cat-
Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Barbuda and others. The islands egory 1 storm in strength, but there is no such thing as a weak
of St. Barthelemy, St. Martin/St. Maarten and Barbuda were hurricane. Irmas 400-mile-diameter body covered Floridas
damaged heavily with their electric power systems demolished. west and east coasts, and stretched along the peninsula with
After the storm, the residents of Barbuda were evacuated high winds, rainfall and fooding.
to Antigua, and for the frst time in 300 years, the island was The eastern side of the state may have missed the direct hit
uninhabited. Additionally, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto from Irma, but the hurricane produced disastrous results with
Rico, Cuba, parts of Hispaniola and Florida were directly high winds, excessive rain and storm surges. The high winds
in the storms path. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) sent trees toppling into T&D lines. The fooding wreaked
reported the U.S. Virgin Islands two islands St. John and havoc on the distribution systems across the state and outages
St. Thomas share a common power grid. The hurricane increased as the storm moved forward. Around Miami-Dade
knocked the interisland power grid out completely, and 100%, and Broward counties, several construction cranes collapsed
or more than 22,000, of the customers on the two islands were on buildings from the high winds, and distribution circuits
without power. were destroyed by downed trees and fooding.
The DOE also reported St. Croix fared a little better Florida Power & Light (FPL) reported 263 substations were
as more than 41%, or 9000 customers, were without power. damaged by Irma. Floridas Division of Emergency Manage-
Puerto Rico received substantial damage to its electrical infra- ment reported Irma left 6.7 million customers without elec-
structure. After the hurricane moved on, more than 66% of tricity. According to the U.S. Department of Homeland Secu-
customers, or 1 million, were in the dark. Cuba was the next rity, this equated to about 15 million Floridians, or about 75%
island to be hit by the storm. Irma caused extensive damage to of the states population.
the power grid along the northern coast and several electrical Flooding extended as far north as Jacksonville, but the
plants in the region. damage from Hurricane Irma was not limited to Florida. It
also knocked out power to about 1.3 million customers in
Like Hurricane Harvey, Hurricane Irma brought extensive flooding, St. Thomas was directly in the path of Hurricane Maria, which lef the
which added more problems to restoration eforts. Photo by Jim Dukart. islands electric grid in shambles. Courtesy of WAPA.

Georgia, more than 208,000 customers in South Carolina,
nearly 320,000 customers in North Carolina and around
45,000 in Alabama.
Utilities across the region activated the nationwide mutual
assistance network for help to restore their power grids. Ac-
cording to the DOE, this was one of the largest undertakings
in U.S. history, involving 49 states and Canada. Utilities set
up staging areas throughout their service territories to house
mutual assistance crews, contractors, and other support per-
sonnel and responders.
Mutual assistance is a hallmark of our industry, and serves
as an effective and critical restoration resource for electric com-
panies, said Edison Electric Institute President Tom Kuhn.
Technology in Action
The utilities in Florida have been storm hardening their An electrical crew works to repair power lines that were knocked
down when Hurricane Maria passed through Corozal, Puerto Rico,
systems since Hurricane Wilma in 2005 and it paid off. FPL, on Sept. 27, 2017. Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images.
Duke Energy Florida, Tampa Electric and others made sig-
nifcant investments to improve their hurricane preparedness or 61,308, from Irma-caused outages. The next day, the eye
since that wake-up call. They replaced wood utility poles with of Category 4 Hurricane Maria ripped through Puerto Rico.
concrete and composite poles. They buried power lines un- PREPA reported the loss of its entire power grid, and there
derground in cities willing to pay the cost. They also deployed was no neighboring utility to help with crews or power. It was
smart grid technologies, added pumps to substations and estimated PREPA lost 55% of its transmission and about 90%
spent substantial amounts on vegetation management. of its distribution network.
FPL also installed real-time water monitors at 223 substa- The DOE said nearly 1.57 million electric customers in
tions most susceptible to storm surges throughout its service Puerto Rico were without electricity. An electricity transmis-
area. These monitors did not prevent fooding during Irma, sion assessment team from New York few into San Juan to sur-
but they provided advanced warnings that enabled FPL to vey the damage using helicopters and drones. Initial reports
shut down a substation proactively before the equipment was indicate a complete rebuild will be needed to get power back
severely damaged by water. on for the island. Six weeks after Maria struck Puerto Rico,
FPL President Eric Silagy said, Frankly, those food moni- PREPA asked for U.S. mainland utilities to help restore power.
tors saved three or four days of work and millions of dollars According to the DOE, this is the longest power outage in the
worth of equipment that would have had to be replaced rather history of the U.S. As of Nov. 1. 2017, the U.S. Corps of Engi-
than simply reenergized. neers reported that power has been restored to approximately
The technologies proved to be invaluable for quickly re- 30% of the islands 1.5 million homes.
storing power to all areas hard hit by Harvey and Irma, but On the U.S. Virgin Islands, St. Croix had missed the full
Jose and Maria continued to pound the Caribbean, and the force of Irma, but this time, the island was in the path of Ma-
next landfalls were on everyones mind. Many crews support- ria. The DOE reported the majority of the 25,000 customers
ing restoration efforts moved directly from Harvey to Irma on St. Croix were without power. The only electricity available
restoration. They wondered if they would be saddling up was from generators. The islands of St. Thomas and St. John
again for yet another round of restoration. had been making progress restoring customers from Irma
Also, as with the Harvey restoration, drones played a outages, but they lost ground when Maria slammed them.
key role in recovery. Shortly after Irma, the FAA issued 132 The governor of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Kenneth Mapp, said
airspace authorizations in Florida. According to the Wall Street their entire T&D system was down or damaged, and estimated
Journal, these approvals were processed within hours of fling, power restoration and recovery will take months.
which is an exceptionally fast turnaround for the government.
Hundreds of commercial drone fights took place in Harvey- Superstorms
and Irma-devastated areas for the restoration efforts. One The 2017 hurricane season has been a nightmare, setting
FAA offcial said he thought this was a landmark in the evolu- the worst kind of records. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria
tion of drone use for hurricane response. had a devastating effect wherever they trekked. They damaged
the infrastructure, knocked out the electrical power grid, and
Maria Knocks Out Power left millions of people without homes or basic necessities.
Two weeks after Irma hammered Puerto Rico and the U.S. Harvey, Irma and Maria have been declared the most de-
Virgin Islands, Hurricane Maria battered the region again. On structive hurricanes ever experienced, with damage cost esti-
Sept. 19, the Puerto Rico Electric Power Authority (PREPA) mates running in the hundreds of billions of dollars. The big
reported it had restored power to all but 3.9% of customers, question is, what comes next?

Utilities Survive Storms,
Rebuild for the Future
Hurricanes may have destroyed utilities
infrastructure, but an army of linemen
helped communities to get up and running.
By Amy Fischbach, Field Editor
W
hen severe storms roar into a utilitys service line superintendent for Entergy Texas Inc. in Beaumont, Tex-
territory, they often wreak havoc and then dis- as. This storm impacted our service territory for more than a
sipate, enabling linemen to begin restoration. week as it hit the Texas coast, meandered offshore and fnally
Hurricane Harvey, however, unleashed its wrath made landfall again in our service territory.
on electric utilities entire systems, inficting unprecedented Hurricane Harvey fooded Entergys service territory and
destruction. also impacted the systems owned and operated by other utili-
Harvey proved to be unlike anything I have experienced ties, including CenterPoint Energy. Then Mother Nature tar-
in my 28 years in the utility business, said Frank Shannon, geted Florida and Georgia, hurling Hurricane Irma at Duke
Entergy sped up restoration by bringing

in four mobile substations to bypass
substations damaged by flooding from
Hurricane Harvey. Courtesy of Entergy.

Energy Florida, Florida Power & Light (FPL) as well as several
other companies and cooperatives.
Brandon Hertell, meteorologist and offering manager
with The Weather Company and IBM, believes Harvey and
Irma will go down in U.S. history as two of the most impact-
ful storms. Its hard to prepare for a Cat 5 storm because the
powers of nature are so astounding, he said. But the Florida
and Gulf Coast utilities know how to handle hurricanes, man-
age a restoration effort and mitigate the impact by hardening
their infrastructure. If anyone knows how to do it, its these
utilities.
Here are the stories of how these utilities survived the hur-
ricanes, restored power and are rebuilding more resilient and
reliable systems.
Entergy: Joining Forces for Restoration

When Harvey made landfall on the night of Friday, Aug.
25, a torrential downpour descended on the western section
of Entergys service territory for several days. Then the hur-
ricane moved slowly eastward, devastating southeast Texas,
including Dayton, Beaumont, Port Arthur, Orange and Vidor.
This record-breaking rainfall and crests of local rivers,
lakes and waterways fooded much of Entergys service terri- Within a two-week period, Entergys employees and contractors
restored power to all of its customers who could safely receive it.
tory. A total of 192,000 Entergy customers lost power over the
Courtesy of Entergy.
course of the storm, with 85,000 customer outages at the peak.
About 4000 customers sustained such severe food damage tive Inc. in Louisiana provided much-needed assistance.
they could not be reconnected. It is always gratifying leading a team of employees who
We saw frsthand the devastation caused by the food- are fully committed to safely restoring power to our customers
ing, with some areas receiving in excess of 50 inches of rain, and helping them, in some small way, to rebuilding what is
said Frank Shannon, line superintendent for Entergy Texas. most important to them, Shannon said.
Many employees throughout our company were signifcantly Entergy leadership provided oversight to each of the con-
impacted. tract partners and was responsible for communicating assign-
Over a two-week restoration period, more than 3300 work- ments to the Entergy crews and contractors. We take great
ers from four states joined forces to restore power to all the strides to ensure open-air communication and designated
customers who could safely receive it. For example, Entergy boundaries for our crews, Shannon said. For example, a par-
operating companies from Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisi- ticular circuit would only be worked on by one set of contrac-
ana came to Entergy Texas aid along with several line con- tors to minimize overlap or miscommunication.
tractors, including T&D Solutions LLC, Willbros Group Inc., Miles of transmission lines were damaged in the hurri-
Pike Electric Corp., Linetec Services, Bright Star Solutions cane. While winds and falling trees caused damage to poles,
Inc., Chain Electric Co., Southern Electric Corp. and High- lines and equipment, the transmission lines and substations
lines Construction. Also, Oncor Electric Delivery Co., Cleco sustained the most damage. Following the storm, the linemen
and the Washington-St. Tammany Parish Electric Coopera- worked to rebuild the electrical system, replace temporary
and damaged equipment with upgraded assets, and add in
More than 3000 workers from Entergys service territory of Texas,

Arkansas, Mississippi and Louisiana helped to restore power following Afer a long day of restoring power, Entergys crews eat a meal togeth-
Hurricane Harvey. Courtesy of Entergy. er under the protection of one of the utilitys tents. Courtesy of Entergy.

To protect themselves from the wet weather conditions, Entergys Afer traveling by airboat to Entergys Cedar Hill substation in Conroe,
field crews wore long high-visibility raincoats during the restoration. Texas, a crew had to wade into the water to inspect the damage
Courtesy of Entergy. before making repairs. Courtesy of Entergy.
contingencies and redundancies to ensure reliability. said. And with high water comes snakes, insects and disease.
The fooding impacted 17 of Entergys substations, with Our company quickly began offering tetanus immunizations
fve sustaining signifcant damage. Entergy Texas brought in and other information to keep our employees safe. As we often
four mobile substations to restore power to customers while do, we improvised and adapted.
linemen made repairs and replaced the damaged equipment. After working 16-hour workdays, the linemen could rest
During the restoration, the most signifcant challenge was at Entergy Texas staging site, which provided food, lodging,
accessing fooded areas. To reach the restoration zones, the fuel, and other necessities for the contractors, crews and sup-
linemen used a variety of airboats, amphibious vehicles and port personnel. Because many of the roads were impassible,
high-water vehicles to assess and repair infrastructure. Also, several of the Entergy Texas employees were not able to return
crews systematically patrolled fooded areas and disconnected home for about a week. As such, they stayed in Entergy-provid-
customers who were impacted until the inspector deemed it ed lodging, at the offce or at the staging areas.
safe to restore power. With the help of the mobile substation and tireless work
Because the linemen were working around the foodwater of the linemen, the crews restored power by Sept. 9 to all cus-
and traveling in boats, Entergy mandated fotation devices tomers who could receive it. Entergy Texas worked with the
and personal protective equipment be worn. High water and remaining customers who could not receive power to provide
inaccessibility were the primary obstacles we faced, Shannon them with temporary service as the utility made repairs.
12 Techniques for Hardening a System

Entergy Corp. implemented the following hardening tactics to strengthen its system and improve its resiliency against severe storms:
The utility built two new transmission control centers in Little Rock, Arkansas, and Jackson, Mississippi, to centralize and con-
solidate the operation of its bulk electric system. The buildings are constructed to withstand EF5 tornadoes and will better protect the
centers from the impact of natural events and the high risk of damaging storm events near the Gulf of Mexico.
Concrete and steel structures are built exclusively for transmission projects systemwide, both replacement and new construction.
An extreme wind-load criterion of 140 mph is used on new or rebuilt lines in the vital transportation, industrial and urban corridor
south of Interstate 10.
Based on site analysis, Entergy elevated critical transmission substation components, such as control houses, switches and break-
ers, to reduce the risk of flooding.
The utility supports transmission lines on steel or concrete structures for circuits crossing interstate highways. It is in the process of
expanding this standard to include all major hurricane evacuation route crossings.
Selective use of storm guys are used on distribution structures in open marsh areas along the coast. Storm guys are tensioned
cables designed to add stability to the structures.
Only Class 3 (or larger) poles are used for trunk feeder construction on distribution circuits close to the Gulf Coast. Class 3 poles are
rated to withstand 3000 pounds of horizontal load.
Steel or concrete structures are used to support distribution circuits crossing interstate highways. The utility is in the process of
expanding this standard to include all major hurricane evacuation route crossings.
Dangerous trees are targeted outside rights-of-way for removal.
Portable batteries and mobile substation equipment are purchased for quick restoration of power.
Problematic insulators and surge arresters are replaced.
Communications, protection and control have been upgraded for remote readying substations for major storms.

Concrete? Steel? Or Both?
After the record or near record-breaking hurricanes, foods and fres of 2017, the question isnt if you should
harden your system, its how? If you think the answer is more wood, theres a better way.
Valmont Utility offers transmission and distribution poles that are engineered to withstand natures worst, using
materials that will actually harden your line:
1. SteelIt stands up to cascading, is virtually maintenance-free and lasts much longer than wood.
2. ConcreteFrom record hurricane wind gusts and fooding, to the most corrosive soils, concrete
withstands environmental extremes.
3. HybridProvides you the best of concrete and steel in a single pole.
Storm hardening the grid isnt easy. There isnt one right answer. But over the years, weve found that making a change
in pole materials can be vital to a successful hardening strategy. When youre ready to harden your lines, let us
know. Well show how an investment in the right materials, backed by the right experience, will pay off for you.
Learn more at www.valmontutility.com.
2017 Valmont Industries, Inc. NAU 015 1017

where he frst started seeing the squalls
impacting the southwestern parts of the
utilitys service territory. When the hur-
ricane began to approach Houston, the
team activated its emergency operating
plan, stationing frst-responder crews
within its service territory to respond to
escalating trouble, mobilizing logistics,
safety and resource management teams,
as well.
Harvey was a moving target for us,
said Scott, who has been with Center-
Point Energy for 18 years. AEP received
the direct hit and impact, and we pre-
dicted it would come through as a weak
hurricane or a tropical storm. Every
plan was based on a snapshot of time
based on what we anticipated with the
impact. We had to be fuid with our de-
cision making; and when we anticipated
escalating impacts, we stood up our
CenterPoint Energy used drones to capture the extent of the flood and infrastructure damage
following Hurricane Harvey. Courtesy of CenterPoint Energy. full-blown emergency operating plan by
mobilizing resources, setting up staging
Harvey was unusual in that it wasnt just hurricane dam- sites and pulling in off-system resources.
age, but it was mainly a historical fooding event, said Kacee Every year, CenterPoint Energy conducts a storm drill and
Kirschvink with Entergy Texas. Harvey made landfall more practices its functional as well as fuid emergency operating
than once, dumping a record amount of rainfall on southeast plan. Within this strategy, the utility builds in different contin-
Texas. The fooding that came as a result was what made Hur- gencies and scenarios into its drill days, so the team can make
ricane Harvey restoration unlike other hurricanes. Our em- decisions for different types of events. Hurricane Harvey, how-
ployees and our customers did an outstanding job of working ever, followed its own plan. It was completely different than
together and making the best of a diffcult situation. anything we have ever seen, Scott said. If you look at 2008
with Hurricane Ike, it came through our territory, and, the
CenterPoint Energy: next day, the sun was out and we could restore service. For this
Gearing Up for a Marathon Restoration storm, we knew that it was going to be a marathon and not a
As Hurricane Harvey started making landfall, CenterPoint sprint, so we prepared ourselves for that.
Energys distribution operations center was ready and waiting. Whenever a storm approaches, CenterPoint Energy tries to
Edward Scott, director of operations for distribution power restore power as quickly and safely as possible, and proactively
delivery at CenterPoint Energy, monitored the storm from respond to the emergency, according to Scott. We get our
the utilitys distribution evaluation center in Houston, Texas, eyes on damage frst, and then we isolate down to restore any
customers that can have service, he said.
CenterPoint Energy mobilized its assessment teams, which
used drones in inaccessible areas to proactively identify what
needed to be restored. Next, the utility was able to isolate
known faults through its advanced distribution management
system and intelligent grid technology. We used drones dur-
ing this event more than we ever have, Scott noted. Due to
the inaccessibility of the structures, they really worked for us.
We also had helicopters fy over the transmission lines to ob-
serve the infrastructure and damage, as well.
Through its investigation, the utility discovered the Memo-
rial substation sustained severe damage as a result of the high
water and fooded control houses. The substation, transmis-
sion and distribution groups came together to work with the
community to set up the mobile substation just outside of a
Afer Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, CenterPoint Energys
crews responded to damage caused by flooding and tornadoes. church. As a result, they were able to restore power to 9000
Courtesy of CenterPoint Energy. local customers.

Within the distribution system, poles
and wires were down, and because the
ground was saturated, the crews also
had to wrangle with vegetation manage-
ment issues. Because of the tornadoes
that Hurricane Harvey spawned, over-
head and underground infrastructure
also were impacted, leading to down
wire and toppled H frames.
After the assessment, CenterPoint
Energys internal crews focused on
bringing the key facilities and critical
infrastructure back on-line. Then, after
identifying areas that had multiple lev-
els of damage, the utility arranged logis-
tics and equipment for the mutual aid
crews. Overall, about 1500 mutual assis-
tance crews and contractors from seven
states provided assistance. Shortly afer CenterPoint Energy restored power following Hurricane Harvey, the utility pre-
pared to send line mechanics to Tampa afer Hurricane Irma. Courtesy of CenterPoint Energy.
CenterPoint Energy opened up stag-
ing sites in those areas that sustained signifcant impact and our families with young children, we opened up a daycare in
damage. Before bringing crews to the staging areas, the utility our downtown offces so our employees could do their jobs.
arranged for lodging, shelter and work assignments for the In addition, CenterPoint Energy donated $1.25 million to
crews to maximize productivity. Also, the utility notifed the Hurricane Harvey recovery and relief efforts, and the employ-
off-system crews about safe routes into the staging areas be- ees also donated $125,000 to an employee relief fund, with the
cause of fooded roads. They faced challenges with the high utility matching $200,000. The community was very apprecia-
water and accessibility into a lot of the areas, and, in these tive to CenterPoint Energy for all its hard work and support.
spots, we had to pull in Marsh Masters and airboats to even The Houstonians were very thankful when the crews restored
gain access, Scott said. power, Scott said. They posted signs thanking the linemen,
For CenterPoint Energy, the utility experienced just under and they came together to support one another.
300,000 outages at its peak, but 1.27 million customers were Once the water receded, the utility and the community
impacted throughout the storm. Because many of the linemen started focusing on the rebuilding stage. Day by day, the feld
live in the local community, they had to face a lot of damage crews made progress replacing damaged equipment and re-
to their own personal properties along with restoring power constructing infrastructure. At the tail end of the restoration
to customers. To help those employees personally affected by effort, CenterPoint Energy turned its attention to helping
the storm, CenterPoint Energy offered assistance. Employ- utilities impacted by Hurricane Irma. We knew the need was
ees, neighbors and coworkers reached out and offered assis- shifting east, and we wanted to be there to help others who
tance like shelter and ride-share programs, Scott said. For helped us during Harvey, Scott explained.
CenterPoint Energy crews, with help from Alabama Power, restort to Because tornadoes and squalls slowed down power restoration,
using airboats to inspect the flooded Memorial substation. crews worked 16-hour shifs until all the repairs were complete.
Courtesy of CenterPoint Energy. Courtesy of CenterPoint Energy.

FPL: Assembling
a Restoration Workforce
Just as the Texas utilities and coop-
eratives were emerging from the de-
struction of Hurricane Harvey, another
hurricane blasted Florida and Georgia.
With winds gusting up to 140 mph, Hur-
ricane Irma slammed all 35 counties
served by FPL, inficting outages to 90%
of customers, or 4.4 million out of 5 mil-
lion customer accounts.
No county that we serve went un-
scathed, said Bill Orlove, a spokesper-
son for FPL. Much of our service ter-
ritory experienced tropical storm or
hurricane winds, which caused trees,
vegetation and other debris to impact
our power lines, poles and equipment.
FPL processed mutual assistance crews at the Lake City processing site in Lake City, Florida. In response, FPL created the largest
Courtesy of Florida Power & Light. restoration workforce in U.S. history
with more than 27,000 personnel from
30 states. Linemen traveled in bucket
truck convoys from as far north as New
York and west as California to help re-
store power swiftly and safely.
We greatly appreciated the support
we received from around the country
and Canada to help us return our cus-
tomers lives back to normal, Orlove
said. We understand how frustrating
it can be without power, and we did not
stop until everyones lights were back
on. We had an army of workers from all
over the country working throughout
the day and night, in hot weather and
challenging conditions, and they were
dedicated to restoring power on behalf
of our customers.
To coordinate the crews, FPL opened
The largest restoration workforce in U.S. history helped get the lights back on afer Hurricane
Irma. Courtesy of Florida Power & Light.
30 staging sites, which operated like
mini cities where crews could receive
their equipment and work orders and
FPLs Process for Prioritizing Repairs and Restoration
fuel up their vehicles. The staging sites
When a severe storm strikes, Florida Power & Light (FPL) follows an overall plan,
provided all of their food, lodging and
which calls for restoring power to the largest number of customers as safely and quickly
showering facilities, Orlove said. In ad-
as possible. Rather than basing this strategy on where customers live, when they report
dition, FPL staff worked from these sites
an outage or the status of their account, FPL follows this strategy for restoration:
to coordinate the restoration effort at
Repair any damage to power plants and power lines that carry electricity from the
the local or regional level.
plants to the local substations.
FPL focused on frst rebuilding ma-
Restore power to critical facilities, such as hospitals, police and fire stations, com-
jor power lines and restoring power to
munication facilities, water treatment plants, transportation providers and shelters.
critical infrastructure. Next, the crews
Return service to the largest number of customers in the shortest amount of time,
began transitioning to tackle the small-
including service to major thoroughfares that host supermarkets, pharmacies, gas
er groups of outages in thousands of
stations and other needed community services.
neighborhoods across the state of Flor-
Repair the infrastructure serving smaller groups and neighborhoods, converging
ida. Crews found widespread damage
on the hardest-hit areas until every customers power is restored.
in the hardest-hit communities, includ-

EMERGENCY
RESTORATION
As North Americas largest
contractor, Quanta Services
mobilized several thousand crews
for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.
THE QUANTA FAMILY OF COMPANIES

Allteck Line Contractors Brink Constructors, Inc. Can-Fer Utility Services
Hargrave Power Irby Construction JCR Utility Construction
J.W. Didado Electric M. J. Electric, LLC North Houston Pole Line
PAR Electrical Contractors, Inc. Potelco, Inc. Probst Electric
Quanta Utility Engineering Services Service Electric Company Summit Line Construction
Sumter Utilities Valard Construction
713.629.7600
www.QuantaServices.com
ing whole trees pulling down power
lines and dense vegetation blocking
roadways, which initially delayed
crews from getting in to make the
necessary repairs, Orlove noted.
Once the crews in the feld com-
pleted a particular job, FPLs staff at
the staging site communicated with
the 4.9 million smart meters for busi-
ness and residential customers to
ensure the customers had power and
the repairs were complete.
Before Hurricane Irma even
made landfall, FPL made signifcant
investments in hardening its systems.
Over the last 11 years, FPL saw its in-
vestments in the grid pay off during Duke Energy Floridas crews and contractors replaced more than 1100 transformers, 3000 power
Hurricane Irma by reducing the res- poles and 1000 miles of wire following Hurricane Irma. Courtesy of Duke Energy.
toration time. The majority of the unexpected and extensive Duke Energy Florida, which had more than 1.3 million peak
damage was caused by fooding as well as toppled trees, which customer outages. This was a historic storm with widespread
took down power lines, poles and equipment. About 90% of damage, said Peeveta Persaud, a spokesperson for Duke
the transmission structures, which were made of concrete or Energy. All 35 of the counties Duke Energy Florida serves
steel, held up during the storm, and the main hardened power were affected.
lines did not fail due to high winds, Orlove said. Since the last group of hurricanes came through Florida
in 2004 and 2005, Duke Energy Florida spent more than
Duke Energy Florida: Hardening Its System $2.4 billion to harden its electrical system. For example, the
Linemen not only came to the assistance of FPL but also utility employed smart technology to self-heal or redirect pow-
er to restore customer outages, detect and correct trouble on a
Lending a Helping Hand: power line, and isolate and reroute electricity. Also, Duke En-
Duke Energy Donates to Relief Eforts ergy Florida replaced wood poles with concrete or steel poles
and implemented grid automation and smart grid devices to
Hurricane Irma inflicted widespread outages and damage to
improve service reliability year-round.
Duke Energy Floridas service territory. To help the local commu-
Even so, Hurricane Irma inficted signifcant damage
nity and its own employees, the utility provided assistance. Here
across Duke Energy Floridas entire distribution system. Line-
are some ways the utility aided in the recovery efort:
men had to repair or restring 1000 miles of wire, replace 3000
The Duke Energy Foundation contributed $1 million to
poles and replace 1100 transformers. In addition, the utility
Hurricane Irma relief eforts, including $350,000 to local com-
experienced signifcant damage to the backbone of its electri-
munity agencies; $250,000 to the Volunteer Florida Foundation;
cal system the transmission system, which sustained dam-
$250,000 to 14 United Way agencies; and $150,000 to Duke
age to 124 lines and 74 substations.
Energys Energy Neighbor Fund to assist eligible Duke Energy
Duke Energy Florida began preparing for Hurricane Irma
Florida customers with their home energy bill in times of crisis.
on Sept. 5, and the storm targeted its service territory on Sun-
The Duke Energy Foundation matched employee dona-
day, Sept. 10, and Monday, Sept. 11. Restoration began on
tions to hurricane relief eforts, resulting in a match of more
Sept. 12.
than $108,000 for Hurricanes Harvey and Irma, for a total dona-
Following the storm, Duke Energy Florida manually sur-
tion of $216,000.
veyed the damage by foot patrol and in vehicles riding out
When Duke Energy Florida experienced 1.28 million peak
lines. In addition, the utility relied on helicopters and drones
outages on Sept. 11, many of its Florida employees who sup-
to assist in Hurricane Irma response efforts, which provided a
ported restoration dealt with their own outages, evacuated
further opportunity to examine the extent of damage.
family members and home damage. Duke Energy initiated an
Restoration work was very labor intensive, often requir-
assistance program for impacted employees as part of its Relief-
ing vegetation clearing, accessing areas on foot and climbing
4Employees program.
poles where bucket trucks could not go, Persaud said.
Grants were available for eligible evacuation assistance,
After conducting a comprehensive damage assessment
including lodging, food, clothing or personal items, and travel-
across the service area, Duke Energy Florida deployed work-
related evacuation costs.
ers, equipment and other resources to certain areas to begin
Human resource employees were available to impacted
the complex job of power restoration. First, the utility focused
employees 24/7 for the duration of the event.
on restoring power to critical infrastructure such as emergen-

Linemen help Duke Energy Florida and FPL
get the lights back on afer Hurricane Irma
afected 1.3 million customers in Florida.
Courtesy of Duke Energy and Florida Power & Light.
cy centers, fre stations, hospitals, and

other public safety and health facilities.
At the same time, the linemen repaired
major transmission lines, damaged sub-
stations and other large-scale equipment to restore power to to beginning work. This enabled them to identify potential
the largest number of customers as quickly as possible. After hazards at their work location, including traffc, trees, vege-
making these large repairs, the feld workforce focused on re- tation and weather impacts. In the safety briefng, they also
storing power to small areas and individual customers. identifed ways to mitigate the hazards, including hydration
Duke Energy had more than 12,000 line technicians, dam- guidelines and establishing safe work zones.
age assessors, vegetation management and support staff in As part of the storm planning, Duke Energy actively pre-
Florida to assist with all aspects of restoration, removing tree pared for the logistical needs of its workers in advance by co-
debris from lines, resetting poles and restringing wire. Duke ordinating food, water and lodging for crews and contractors
Energys crews worked out of 15 staging locations through- throughout the restoration process. In addition, the utility
out its service area. Before the hurricane even hit, the utility managed the day-to-day restoration work through constant
worked with community partners to pre-identify staging loca- communication between the crews in the feld and the local
tions for these crews and then, based on the local impact, de- Duke Energy operations centers.
termined which locations to activate. By Sept. 20, Duke Energy had restored electricity to all 1.3
During the restoration, all Duke Energy employees and million customers impacted by Hurricane Irma in Florida.
contract workers worked in accordance with standard work Crews continued working until all remaining isolated outages
practices and contractual requirements such as required rest were restored. Crews continued repair work on isolated and
periods. The majority of our crews worked from 5 a.m. to scattered power outages or cases where a meter or other cus-
9 p.m. to take advantage of the daylight hours when they could tomer equipment was damaged, and required repair and in-
be the most productive and safe, Persaud said. We also had spection, Persaud said. In many of the companys hardest-hit
crews that worked through the night on critical infrastructure areas, repairs included rebuilding the electrical system as a
repairs and emergency situations. At night, support personnel result of signifcant damage.
refueled vehicles and restocked materials and supplies after Through the tireless work of the utilities own linemen as
our crews completed their 16-hour day so they were ready for well as mutual assistance crews and contractors, the utilities
the next shift. in Texas, Georgia and Florida were able to emerge from the
To keep the crews safe during restoration, Duke Energy storms stronger, more resilient and ready for the next storm
crews and contractors conducted pre-job safety briefngs prior on the horizon.

Line Contractors Unite
to Restore and Rebuild
Afer high winds and heavy rain in Texas
and Florida, contract linemen swifly came
to the rescue of impacted utilities.
By Amy Fischbach, Field Editor
L
ine contractors stand by, ready and willing to help With so many Quanta Services crews on the ground in Tex-
when emergency strikes. So when two hurricanes as, Shea drove from Tennessee to the western side of Hous-
packed a one-two knockout punch to Texas and Flori- ton, Texas, to witness the devastation personally. He arrived
da, line contractors swiftly mobilized their line crews. at about midnight and the next morning, as the sun rose over
Many traveled from across the U.S. and all had to overcome
obstacles to help restore power and rebuild the Texas and
Florida electric power grids.
Coming Together
Quanta Services mobilized 1500 line workers for Hur-
ricane Harvey and sent 3100 to Florida following Hurricane
Irma. Even though Quanta is structured as different operat-
ing units and compete against each other, when there is an
event like this, the power of one goes into effect, said Jody
Shea, senior vice president for Quanta Services. We coordi-
nate the movement of resources and the support through a Sumter Utilities crews traveled to Texas to get the lights back on for
single chain of command. those residents afected by Hurricane Harvey. Courtesy of Quanta Services.
Linemen from Irby Construction stand in knee-deep water to help restore power on the southeast Texas coast. Courtesy of Quanta Services.

the hurricane-stricken city of Rockport, Texas, he found the
damage to be similar to that of Hurricane Katrina.
Katrina more or less hit a very compact area, but with
Harvey, it was so spread out, Shea observed. I drove for two
hours and continued to see power lines lying on the ground.
Just when I thought that we were close to being done with the
restoration, I would see houses that were destroyed and areas
that were completely devastated. The impacts from the food-
ing will affect Texas for quite a long time.
Great Southwestern Construction Inc. crews were on the
road the day after AEP Texas called on MYR Group for as-
sistance, according to Mark Hammons, regional manager for
Great Southwestern in Tahlequah, Oklahoma.
While Hurricane Harvey was typical to other hurricanes of
similar magnitude, this time around the restoration hit a per-
sonal chord with some of the linemen. Some of our employ-
ees live in the area where the hurricane made landfall, Ham-
mons said. One foremans house was completely destroyed. Matt Compher, Quanta vice president of safety, health and environ-
mental, views the damage in south Texas. Courtesy of Quanta Services.
Another MYR Group subsidiary, The L.E. Myers Co., also
felt the impacts of the hurricane with fooded roads to its go, Stupec said. We keep one to two tool kits ready for just
offces and food damage to employees homes. Even though these situations in our tool room. They include everything the
these employees lost power to their houses, they continued crew will need to start work.
doing storm work, said Aaron Stupec, district manager for Great Southwestern line crews stocked their work trucks
L.E. Myers in Pasadena, Texas. with the proper gear. Armed with hoists, grips, slings, wire cut-
ters, press heads, hand lines and other hand tools, 63 Great
Hitting the Open Road Southwestern linemen traveled in a convoy down the highway.
Other MYR Group subsidiaries E.S. Boulos, Sturgeon Once they arrived on-site, they split ways to travel to the vari-
Electric Co. Inc. and Harlan Electric Co. provided assis- ous restoration zones.
tance following Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. Harlan Electric Sturgeon Electrics crews each traveled on their own, and
sent about 20 crew members to Georgia to work with Southern then they met up at night, which was safer for everyone in-
Company and another 50 to Florida to assist Florida Power & volved, according to Tom Barclay, senior operations manager
Light (FPL). for Sturgeon Electric in Topeka, Kansas. Its typically a safety
After Hurricane Harvey made landfall in Texas, Westar
Energy released its Sturgeon Electric crews through its mutual
assistance program. The general foremen selected the restora-
tion team based on who volunteered frst as well as who had
distribution equipment available.
On Monday, Aug. 28, the Sturgeon Electric crews hit the
road. Around the same time, CenterPoint Energy and Texas
New Mexico Power called on L.E. Myers, which then deployed
33 workmen to provide mutual assistance.
Before driving south, the contractors equipped their feld
crews with the materials and equipment necessary for the res-
toration. In addition to preloading Sturgeon Electrics trucks
with distribution tools, the contractor also packed up head-
lamps, rainsuits, drinking water, sqwinchers, bug spray, sun-
screen and other standard personal protective equipment.
L.E. Myers ensured its distribution crews had their usual
kitting and doubled up on all the secondary connections. In
addition, the contractor prepared its chain saws with backup
chains and oil, and the linemen stocked suffcient wire for
both primary and secondary along with plenty of cover, load
breaker tools and isolators. To get power on for as many cus-
tomers as possible, L.E. Myers tries to keep it simple and be as
prepared as possible, according to Stupec. A line worker for Sturgeon Electric climbs a pole wrapped with vines
Some of our crews already were tooled up and ready to to make repairs following Hurricane Harvey. Courtesy of MYR Group.

Quanta Services crews also faced similar access challenges
because of fooded roads, said Shea, a former journeyman
lineman and owner of Service Electric. I-10 was closed, and
our linemen couldnt get to where they had to report to, Shea
recalled. For two or three days, crews were trapped in the
fooded areas. By the time they knew they had to turn around,
there was water behind them. They were stranded on islands
in little towns east of Houston.
Overcoming Obstacles
When the L.E. Myers crews arrived at the restoration zone,
they described the atmosphere as wet and quiet, with a lot of
fooding. No streetlights were on and, when the wind calmed
down, sometimes you could hear the faint sound of a genera-
tor running, Stupec said.
Within the storm-stricken zone, the linemen came across
downed trees, poles and conductor, a signifcant amount of
debris, blown transformers, and fooded houses and cars.
Weve seen similar damage on other storm restoration
efforts, but we have never encountered anywhere near the
same amount of standing water, Stupec said.
Following Hurricane Harvey, the heavy rain provided the
most signifcant challenges during the restoration, according
E.S. Boulos, an MYR Group subsidiary, sent line crews to hurricane-
stricken Florida. Courtesy of MYR Group. to Sturgeon Electric. Wind damage is typically the bigger de-
structive force, but fooding was the bigger problem on this
hazard to convoy with all the trucks, so we mitigate by con- storm, Barclay said. It was hard to be productive with the
voying in smaller groups, Barclay said. Also, larger groups storm surge water still in place, but we pushed through to help
are harder to accommodate in restaurants, in traffc and in as much as we could.
hotels. In addition, the crews faced an unexpected challenge
In the case of L.E. Myers, all the crews were local to the droves of mosquitos, which came as an unpleasant surprise
Houston area, so they traveled separately as they were working to the linemen. To keep them protected while working in and
in separate locations. Before the crews started work, the gen- near the foodwater, Great Southwestern provided the line
eral foremen looked for a safe route to the project location. crews with muck boots and safety nets.
Because of the heavy fooding, this was sometimes the most For Quanta Services, the burgeoning mosquito population
demanding task. was the No. 1 topic for all the workers in Texas. They tried
Sometimes we had to wait for daylight in order to fnd a some netting around their hardhats and their faces, and they
safe route, Stupec said. Roads were totally underwater, and used various types of bug spray, Shea noted. Some were us-
in some cases, you couldnt tell where
the road was.
The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey

created dificult working conditions for crews.
Non-accessible work in easements required
use of mini derricks to set poles.
Courtesy of Great Southwestern Construction.

mud and swamp, and when the water gets deep enough, they
can serve as a boat and carry six to eight linemen and their
tools to the work site.
For Sturgeon Electric, the linemen rented small boats and
canoes to cross the storm water. In areas with low water levels,
the linemen wore rubber boots. Its a huge safety hazard to
wade through any kind of storm water, but some guys do it
when there are no other good options, Stupec explained.
To provide an extra level of safety, L.E. Myers assigned one
of its employees to walk ahead of the equipment and crews
with waders on to inspect the depth of water and access to the
work location. If it was too deep or access was an issue, the lo-
cation would be worked after the water receded, Stupec said.
Arranging Logistics
Quanta Services crews were scattered across the restoration
zone in Texas. For example, after Hurricane Harvey obliterat-
ed a local airport, thousands of linemen used the runway as a
staging area. In the beginning of the restoration, the linemen
slept in their trucks and trailers, but as power was restored,
they were able to move to hotels.
When the Great Southwestern crews arrived on-site, the
atmosphere as chaotic, which Hammons says is typical for the
frst day of storm restoration work. With so many crews com-
Near Rockport, Texas, which was hit by Hurricane Harvey, crews use a ing in at one time, it takes time to get everything lined out as
specialized track machine to access work sites. Courtesy of Quanta Services.
far as materials, logistics and lodging.
ing dryer sheets. They rubbed them on their hardhats and Initially, the crews stayed in trailers with makeshift cots
fame-retardant shirts, and that seemed to work a little bit. and bathrooms, but eventually, they were put up in hotels.
Overall, however, it was pretty rough with the mosquitos. AEP Texas provided meals for the crews, but after power was
In addition, the linemen also had to be careful when wad- restored, Great Southwestern began taking care of meals for
ing through the water because a lot of the local wildlife was its own linemen, who worked long hours to get the power
disturbed, especially in Florida. There were sightings of an restored.
alligator or two as well as several snakes, Shea said. Obvi- Sturgeon Electric worked from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., and dur-
ously, all those things were disturbed with the foodwater. ing 16-hour workdays, the linemen fought mosquitos the en-
Beyond watching out for wildlife, feld crews also had to tire time. More than 16 hours a day were not authorized, or
be aware of possible backfeeds into the distribution system. we would have worked them, Barclay said.
As residents returned home and switched on their generators, Meanwhile, CenterPoint Energy provided hotel rooms and
they could unknowingly cause a backfeed, putting linemen at arranged meals for the Sturgeon Electric crews. The meals,
risk. To protect its feld workforce, Quanta Services provided which were arranged by CenterPoint in a tent, were very good,
all linemen with personal voltage detectors. which is unusual for storm work, Barclay said.
If they had it on their person, and they were walking
through backyards or lots and got close to something ener- Restoring and Rebuilding
gized, it sounds an alarm, Shea said. Since there were so During the restoration, the Great Southwestern linemen
many contractors working on this storm, AEP also required focused on repairing distribution lines by replacing poles and
the linemen to wear rubber gloves and rubber sleeves, and we repairing down wire. In addition, the crews also demolished
also had a lot of grounds in the air. 24 miles of 345-kV line that had been destroyed completely.
L.E. Myers crews focused on overhead and underground
Accessing Work Locations residential distribution, which included secondary. In many
Crews also confronted the challenge of accessing their work cases, the trees fell on top of backyard power lines, snapping
locations. After the hurricanes made landfall, Quanta Ser- the pole or damaging the wire.
vices crews used airboats and specialized tracked equipment. We spent a lot of time accessing and getting into peoples
For example, one of the operating units provided a Wilco, a backyards with the help of tree trimmers, and we had to re-
large piece of equipment that can navigate through the water. place a lot of snapped poles and wire, Stupec said. We typi-
Within a few days, the water receded south of Houston but cally worked 16-hour days, including weekends. No shift work
north of the city. We provided amphibious machines, which was conducted due to safety concerns.
have tracks and propellers, Shea said. They can go into the During the restoration, Quanta Services crews focused pri-

each of the operating units for Quanta Services had its own
safety team. The safety professionals were not only available
on-site, but they also worked with the feld workforce to ad-
dress any of their needs. In addition, Quanta Services coordi-
nated a safety conference call in which lessons learned were
reviewed as well as ways to support the feld workforce efforts.
Quanta Services was committed to keeping its linemen safe
during the restoration efforts in both Texas and Florida. The
linemen go out there, and they want to do whatever it takes to
help people, Shea said. Once the call comes and we start de-
ploying our workers, its like being a parent with kids out late
at night. You dont know when they are going to come home,
so you worry about them. They often work in terrible condi-
tions, so we put a lot of effort into making sure that 3100 went
to Florida and 3100 came back home.
According to Hammons, when Great Southwestern crews
go out on storm work, their mindset quickly changes. It brings
the team together, and the guys raise their levels of awareness
to make sure they are looking out for one another, Hammons
explained. The crews get very focused on getting the publics
power restored as quickly and safely as we possibly can.
Coordinating Crews
Shortly after Hurricane Harvey hit Texas, Hurricane Irma
was right on its heels. As such, many contractors, which had
linemen on the ground in Texas, had to shift resources to
Florida. For example, Asplundh Tree Expert Co. LLC and its
utility infrastructure subsidiaries mobilized more than 4700
A line worker from Sturgeon Electric performs repairs on a distribu- employees to Florida two weeks after sending 400 employees
tion transformer impacted by Hurricane Irma. Courtesy of MYR Group.
to Texas. The workers focused on helping 22 utilities and mu-
marily on rebuilding. In some areas, they would set a new pole, nicipalities to restore power.
remove wire from the trees, splice it back together and make In addition to the tree trimming crews, Asplundh also sent
it operable. The damage, however, was extremely widespread, about 1000 employees from its infrastructure subsidiaries
Shea noted. Asplundh Construction, Utility Lines Construction Services,
Not only the fooding but the winds destroyed the poles Musgrove Construction, American Lighting and Signaliza-
and wires, and when they started coming down and made tion, Grid One Solutions and American Electrical Testing.
phase-to-ground, the transformers started blowing up, Shea The crews, which stem from as far away as the upper Midwest
stated. In the areas where the substations and transmission and Massachusetts, assisted with assessing damage and re-
lines were totally destroyed, it was more of a rebuilding effort. building infrastructure.
Some Quanta Services operating units focused on building Other contracting companies, including Quanta Services,
the feeder distribution lines out of the substation and work- had to handle the migration of crews from Texas to Florida.
ing with AEP to install a portable substation to get the cities The company assigned a single storm contact, Brian Standish,
back up and running. The substation was in the middle of who worked hand in hand with all the operating units to iden-
nowhere, and 5 miles of transmission lines were just lying on tify the availability of their workforce, where they were located
the ground, Shea recalled. and what kinds of equipment they had on hand.
In other areas, linemen had to serve as detectives just to Once the contractor crews were released from Texas,
fnd the existing power line. They knew there was a line in Quanta Services mobilized many of these crews to Florida
a particular spot because they could see some of the stubs of to assist the impacted utilities following Hurricane Irma. In
the broken off poles, Shea said. When they couldnt fnd the Texas, the crews worked primarily for CenterPoint Energy, En-
tops of the poles or the wire, they sometimes found it a mile tergy, AEP Texas, Texas New Mexico Power, Lower Colorado
away. They had to survey some lines from scratch and rebuild River Authority and several cooperatives. When Hurricane
them. Irma hit, Quanta deployed its largest amount of resources on a
storm to work for Duke Energy, FPL, Georgia Power, Georgia
Focusing on Safety Transmission and local cooperatives.
As with any storm restoration project, safety was a top con- Our Florida customers were calling and wanting to know
cern for the contractor crews and host utilities. For example, when we would be released from Texas, Shea said. At that

Utility and Line Contractor Crews Work Side by Side to Restore Power
When Hurricane Irma slammed Florida shortly afer Hurricane Harvey flooded
Texas, line contractors and electric utilities deployed their available linemen to
the storm-stricken areas. Through the Southeastern Electric Exchange, workers
from 90 utilities from 25 states and Canada came to Florida to provide assistance
to Duke Energy Florida.
For example, Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) and its transmission contrac-
tor came to the aid of both Florida Power & Light and Duke Energy Florida. As
part of the Midwest Mutual Assistance Group, KCP&L already had released 189
distribution contractor personnel and five transmission contractor personnel to
Houston following Hurricane Harvey. As Hurricane Irma approached Florida, the
utility deployed all of its line contractors, and 37 KCP&L linemen, 14 KCP&L sup-
port personnel and 150 tree contractors for the expected two-week restoration.
The first wave of resources departed Kansas City for Orlando, Florida, on Sept.
9. When they arrived, they were assigned to Punta Gorda, Florida, north of Fort
Myers, Florida. Then, on Sept. 13, KCP&L sent a second wave of nearly 40 more
distribution linemen and support personnel as well as 26 full-time tree contractors
to St. Augustine, Florida.
When the KCP&L contractors and linemen arrived on-site, they were ready
to get to work on the restoration. Because they were accustomed to restoring
power following ice storms in Kansas, they had to deal with an entirely new set of
challenges in Florida. Of course, we are accustomed to snow, wind, rain, flooding
and ice, said Jeremy McNeive, manager of media communications for KCP&L.
We were very aware of our surroundings as FPL and Duke talked about alligators,
water moccasins and bugs.Staying hydrated has been a focus with plenty of fluid
and breaks to cool down. Workers have to watch out for heat stress and have done
a great job of staying hydrated.
The linemen focused on safety throughout the entire restoration process by
organizing tailgate meetings every morning and also on each job site before beginning restoration
eforts. Linemen must be aware of their surroundings, wear V-watches and always work as a team,
McNeive said. There should never be an individual of by himself or herself.
During the restoration efort, KCP&L focused on rebuilding entire distribution lines, installing
primary and secondary wire, and replacing poles. One challenge they consistently faced during the
restoration was the amount of vegetation. As such, the linemen worked closely with the vegetation
contractors to get vegetation out of the way to restore power.
As all crews worked throughout the weekend, they continued to be in good spirits and very
productive, restoring power to thousands of customers despite dificult conditions, McNeive said.
There are still several large outages, and restoration has been dificult due to limited access to poles, many of which are located on back
property lines in low-lying areas.
point, some companies were just getting started on the resto- said. For example, the linemen received a lot of special thanks,
ration from Harvey. When Irma hit, they released some of our and the public frequently stopped by to give the crews food or
resources, who often went home for a day and then directly to offer their appreciation. This does a lot for the guys morale,
Florida to help. and its really what keeps the guys going in such diffcult work-
Compounding the challenge, Hurricane Maria blacked ing conditions, Hammons said.
out Puerto Rico and inficted widespread outages on the Shea agreed. When there is total devastation, people step
Virgin Islands. In turn, Quanta Services mobilized one of its up and the community comes together to help, he said. Even
operating units to Turks and Caicos, and considered sending though the people didnt have any power, they had their grills
crews to Puerto Rico and the impacted islands. out and they were cooking meals to feed the linemen.
Hammons was proud to be part of the restoration and
Gaining Appreciation thanked AEP for calling on his company to provide assistance.
Throughout the hurricane restoration effort, the line con- We have a very dedicated workforce, and our employees are
tractors worked long hours and endured challenging condi- the most important part of our company, Hammons said.
tions to restore power. In response to their hard work, the lo- We appreciate their willingness to go work day and night to
cal communities were supportive and appreciative, Hammons get the power back on as quickly as possible.

Restoration Begins
with Support
Manufacturers and suppliers keep
materials flowing for an army of responders.
By Gene Wolf, Technical Writer
T
he 2017 hurricane season will probably go down in lifts and shiploads of material began moving, and the slow
history as one of the most destructive and expensive process of rebuilding started.
hurricane seasons in history. In addition, it will go The condition of the storm-damaged areas was assessed
down as one of the biggest restoration efforts per- and resources were sent to the region. Work on the region
formed by the electric power delivery industry in history. Pow- damaged by Hurricane Harvey is fully under way, and the
er grids along the Gulf Coast and the East Coast of the U.S. Hurricane Irma rebuild is moving forward. Hurricane Maria
were hard hit by winds, rain and fooding. In the Caribbean, restoration is proceeding slowly. At the height of the restora-
it was worse as the infrastructure on several islands was de- tion effort, more than 60,000 workers from more than 250 in-
stroyed and the power grids were completely wiped out. vestor-owned electric utilities and electric cooperatives assem-
Estimates for restoring electric power have reached night- bled to help. These workers included line crews, engineers,
mare proportions throughout the devastated areas. It is esti- technicians, tree trimmers and other support personnel.
mated rebuilding will take months, if not years.
On the mainland, convoys from utilities around North Front Line
America hit the highway after loading up all the supplies Electric utilities in regions hard hit by the hurricanes
heavy-duty utility vehicles could carry. In the Caribbean, air- activated their mutual assistance network, but boots on the
Utility personnel gathered in staging areas

for safety briefings, work assignments and
to restock their trucks for the days work.
Courtesy of AEP Texas.

Factory workers put in long hours and gave up time of to keep materials flowing to the storm-relief efort. Courtesy of Hastings.
ground require tremendous logistical support. Keeping these effort. In addition, the company monitored other distribution
frontline troops supplied with the necessary hardware and equipment suppliers to stay on top of the resupply effort.
equipment requires a huge effort on the part of manufactur- A DIS-TRAN packaged substations team monitored the
ers, vendors and suppliers. These companies make up the storms, utilities and sub-suppliers across the country to sup-
supply chain the electric utility industry depends on for day- port the restoration effort in storm-ravaged regions. The com-
to-day support, but the supply chain shifts to a more intense panys goal was to keep projects moving forward and ensure
structure when disaster strikes. They understand restoration there were no logistical headaches to their customers.
efforts require equipment and materials be delivered to stag- Utilities use a great deal of material to get their systems
ing areas daily. It is a nonstop effort to keep the crews well operational after being damaged by a storm. Mike Edmonds,
stocked and not waiting on parts. president of S&C Electric Co.s U.S. business unit, said, S&C
To keep the work fowing, manufacturers and vendors has a long history of working hand in hand with our customers
stepped up their efforts in getting supplies to the front line. during major weather events. Before the hurricanes reached
Without crossarms, poles, transformers, fuse links, splices, land, S&C began ramping up production for such essentials
insulators, conductor, connectors and the thousands of other as fuse links, padmounted switches and switchgear. We have
items essential to supplying power to customers, the restora- prioritized the delivery of this equipment.
tion process would be impossible. The 60,000-plus utility per- Factory personnel are working 24/7 to produce all the es-
sonnel working in the feld were the tip of the iceberg. They sential equipment needed to get the grid affected by the hur-
were supported by a huge network of people producing, pack- ricanes back in full operation, Edmonds added. At the same
aging, shipping and delivering all the nuts and bolts needed time, commercial teams organized, scheduled and prioritized
to rebuild the damaged grid. the delivery of the equipment to support the utilities needs
Speed of response is everything after a storm hits the grid, effciently.
according to Eatons Cooper Power Systems LLC. This is the In the frst few weeks of restoration, S&C had produced
reason why Cooper monitors every hurricane and tracks out- 95,000 fuse links, 35 units of pad-mounted switchgear and
ages in the hurricane-devastated areas. This monitoring is 15 motor operators to assist impacted utilities. S&C made a
critical to the companys storm boss, who gives hourly reports $55,000 contribution to the American Red Cross to aid in the
to all response teams. Storm alerts are rated yellow, orange overall relief effort, Edmunds said.
or red, and are updated continuously. Using this information, High winds and falling trees took a toll on overhead distri-
the teams quickly ramp up operations for restoration materi- bution lines and their supporting structures. Many suppliers
als used during storm recovery. This information is essential such as Hughes Brothers Inc., Falcon Steel America, Valmont
for the teams to expedite production and shipping for the re- Industries Inc., DIS-TRAN, Laminated Wood Systems Inc.,
sources required for immediate storm restoration efforts. Trinity Meyer Utility Structures LLC, Sabre-FWT, Eaton and
others met the challenge of the rebuilding effort.
Ramping Up Support Siemens Corp. mobilized its sales and consulting engi-
Border States Electric (BSE) has been working with manu- neers, service technicians and service departments in the
facturers to keep supply disruptions to a minimum for short- hurricane-damaged areas. These groups were on-site to pro-
term power restoration and long-term rebuilding efforts. BSE vide support in assessing electrical systems. The company also
maintains a $2 million storm inventory that includes cross- helped utilities to establish effcient recovery plans, where
arms, poles and insulators. According to the supply chain so- needed. According to Siemens, all of its production plants
lutions company, GE reported one of its circuit breaker plants across the country had dedicated capacity to respond to hur-
in Puerto Rico was impacted by Hurricane Maria. BSE also ricane restoration projects. Siemens used local distribution by
noted Okonite added capacity in 2017 that would help with stocking its warehouses to full capacity with the necessary dis-
the demand for medium-voltage cable needed in the rebuild tribution equipment.

When thinking about storm restoration support from man-
ufacturers, the typical response is supplying equipment and
materials quickly, but Falcon Steel went beyond the typical
concept. The company has a 226,000-sq-foot lattice manufac-
turing and galvanizing facility in Conroe, Texas. It had been
spared by Harvey and the fooding. The company reached
out to authorities with a different type of offer. Falcon Steel
allowed the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, FEMA,
American Red Cross, U.S. Coast Guard, Montgomery County
and City of Conroe emergency management offcials to use
the facility in whatever manner they felt would beneft the
community best.
Within 36 hours, our phones were burning up with calls
for requests to utilize the facility, said James Taylor, presi-
dent and CEO of Falcon Steel. Within fve hours from the
frst request, our Falcon Steel America Conroe warehouse had
Crews work to restore power in the Corpus Christi and Port Aransas opened and become a critical and major location for Mont-
area of Texas with the material provided by Utility One Source manu-
facturers, vendors and suppliers. Courtesy of Utility One Source. gomery County donations coming in from across the country.
Tens of thousands of donations were being received, sorted
Likewise, GEs emergency-response teams supported util- and housed on a daily basis to be distributed to shelters for
ity customers impacted by the hurricanes. In addition to pro- food evacuees and others who endured damage during this
viding T&D equipment, GEs feld service engineers helped historic storm.
utilities to evaluate and repair hurricane-damaged electrical Falcon Steel America was also asked if [the company]
equipment. The company also contributed $500,000 to the could house frst responders coming in from across the coun-
American Red Cross and pledged to match the donations its try to participate in the search and rescue efforts, Taylor said.
employees made to disaster-relief organizations. We stocked our breakroom shelves and refrigerators, and
purchased additional coffee pots that day, and then opened
More Than Material our front-offce building space to allow these dedicated men
There were several cases where the hurricanes impacted and women to have a place to rest, wash up, relax, eat and
those supporting the restoration effort, too. The Doble En- sleep before their shift would start all over again.
gineering Co.s Houston, Texas, laboratory was temporarily
closed because of Hurricane Harvey and the damage it infict- The Personal Touch
ed on the region. Doble notifed customers its employees were Restoration after storms also requires a great deal of con-
safe and the lab would be reopened as soon as possible. The ductor and cable to rebuild distribution circuits and trans-
company asked customers to use its other labs. Each lab is part mission lines. This is an area where Southwire has a lot of
of the Doble network and had access to all customer records experience. Southwire keeps an inventory of wire and cable
because of the computer systems data-sharing abilities. Until for storm recovery in its factories to be ready when disasters
the Houston operation was reopened, Dobles other labs were occur. Southwires storm specialists monitored hurricanes
available to close ranks and support customers rebuilding Harvey, Irma and Maria and worked closely with the utilities
efforts to restore power. in the path of the storms. Once it was determined where the
It also was personal for ABB. The company has factories storms would hit land, Southwire prioritized production space
and other facilities in the storm-damaged regions, and many and began producing wire and cable for the restoration effort.
of its employees and their families needed support. ABB Not only were Southwire employees busy keeping four fac-
helped employees and affected communities in Florida, Texas tories running 24/7, producing wire and cable to fulfll storm-
and Louisiana by partnering with the American Red Cross to related orders, they also found time to take part in Project
ensure swift emergency aid for the victims of Irma and Har- GIFT. According to Southwire, Project GIFT began as an out-
vey. ABB is matching employees donations dollar for dollar. let to serve those suffering in the wake of disaster, and we con-
In addition, ABB mobilized service teams from all over the tinue to focus our efforts in that same spirit of giving back.
U.S. as well as Canada, Mexico and other countries to help our Southwire gathered emergency supplies bottled water,
customers return to operations as quickly and as safely as pos- paper goods, cleaning supplies, nonperishable food, baby
sible, said Greg Scheu, president of ABB Americas. items, pet supplies, personal hygiene products, ice chests and
Scheu also noted ABB factories had ramped up supplemen- other items for victims of Harvey and Irma. As a result, the
tal inventories and teams of service experts. In addition, the company flled more than 22 semi-trucks for its Project Gift.
company manned a disaster customer service center to assist Utility One Sources support for the restoration efforts
its utility and industrial customers with damage assessment as took a personal turn. The company planned to exhibit at the
well as to coordinate the correct response. ICUEE expo on Oct. 3-5 in Louisville, Kentucky. When the

hurricanes hit, Utility One Source re-
ceived many requests for equipment to
support the restoration effort. The com-
pany opted to send several units sched-
uled to be at ICUEE to those who need-
ed the equipment for restoration efforts.
Utility One Source also sent supplies,
cases of water and food to its Houston
company, Custom Truck & Equipment,
for the staff to distribute. In addition to
supplies, the company sent three boats
and four amphibious vehicles to help aid
in the relief efforts.
Many requests for help are real emer-
gencies and time is limited. During the
restoration effort, Hastings Hot Line Hubbell employees pack snacks and other items for care packages to send to workers in the
storm zone. Courtesy of Hubbell.
Tools & Equipment in Hastings, Michi-
gan, received an emergency order from a Texas distributor at employees volunteered to work overtime on the weekends to
11:30 a.m. The distributor needed four sets of custom-made ramp up production rates. In addition, more than 100 employ-
grounds and a live-line tester shotgun stick to install the ees changed their Labor Day weekend plans to go into work to
grounds, and the order had to be completed and shipped to help get the lights back on in the stricken areas.
Texas by 1 p.m. for arrival that same day. Initially, SEL shipped 525 products to 28 customers in the
Hastings fulflled the order on time, even with multiple hurricane-impacted areas. SEL also expedited all shipping,
changes to the order in the 90-minute window. The company with more than 75% of its orders shipping within 24 hours. In
pulled people from different departments to do whatever it addition, SEL offered a disaster discount of 25% on all prod-
took to make it all happen. The customer was so grateful it ucts bound for the affected areas. This disaster discount has
had pizzas delivered to all involved with the order. a long history with SEL that goes back to the Mississippi River
food of 1993. There also was the personal touch of caring.
Reaching Out The employees and SEL President Edmund Schweitzer donat-
Hubbell Power Systems Inc. knew restoration would be ed more than $300,000 to hurricane relief funds.
challenging. Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria were power-
ful storms. The company started receiving orders two days in Rebuilding
advance of Harveys landfall and it never let up. Hubbell was This has been a hurricane season for the record books with
prepared as it has a dedicated Hubbell emergency action team several Category 4 hurricanes and two Category 5 hurricanes.
(HEAT) that specializes in storm response and is always ready Islands were wiped out, major metropolitan areas were food-
to act quickly. Over the next three weeks, Hubbell shipped ed and the grid was damaged beyond what anyone expected,
1 million pounds of utility products in response to Harvey. but there also have been restoration efforts for the record
When a customer ordered an item not in stock, its manu- books. Armies of responders throughout North America an-
facturing facilities rose to the challenge. One example was im- swered the call for help in regions devastated by the storms.
mediately producing more than 500 cutouts for a Texas utility Where the electric delivery system had been damaged heavily,
and shipping them directly to Houston to keep things rolling. these frontline troops began the process of restoration.
In addition to all the material, equipment and tools, Hub- While workers were risking their lives, another army of sup-
bell employees donated approximately 500 storm packs for pliers vendors and manufacturers worked around the
utilities in Texas. The packs included two bottles of water, a clock to keep the supplies of equipment, hardware, conduc-
towel, a T-shirt, snacks and a handwritten card. The packs tors and other material fowing into the storm-ravaged areas.
were shipped to Texas with the product shipments for delivery. The electric industry knows how important getting the
When Irma hit, Hubbell prepared another 500 storm packs for power back on is to the community. It is more than a job for
utilities in Florida and Georgia and sent them with the storm those in the industry, it is in their DNA. Loss of electricity rips
shipments of arresters, insulators, cutouts, pole line hardware, the fabric of society and yanks the lifeline on which so many
tools, grounding equipment, gloves, connectors and more. depend. From every corner of the industry, everyone worked
When substations drown, the control and protection together to bring back electricity and, with it, societys sense
equipment really suffers. Before anyone can reenergize the of normalcy and security. This was an epic rebuild in every
circuits coming out of them, the protection and control sys- sense of the word. It refected a partnership among utilities,
tems must be operational. Schweitzer Engineering Labora- contractors and vendors that developed over many past storm-
tories (SEL) stepped up to help its utility customers in a big restoration efforts. There are plenty of lessons learned that
way after the devastation of Harvey and Irma. Hundreds of its will be applied to future storms to respond even quicker.

The Untold Story
of Hurricane Response
Afer the storm, vegetation management crews
clear the way for restoration to begin.
By Dave Shadle, Senior Editor
IVM Expertise
T
here is often an untold story about the invaluable
role members of the vegetation management pro- Professional vegetation management companies are widely
fession play as part of practically every major storm known in the power sector for their expertise on integrated
response. This year, 2017 may be remembered for vegetation management (IVM), the practice of managing the
many things, but, undoubtedly, one of them will be the un- vegetation in utility rights-of-way (ROW) by appropriately
precedented damage and disruption caused by the hurricane clearing new and expanded ROW to maintain required clear-
season. ances, scheduled pruning, vegetation treatment for growth
Hurricanes Harvey and Irma occurred more than two control and removal of danger species. IVM programs help
weeks apart, severely impacting the Houston, Texas, area to improve reliability and resiliency during normal times and
along with Florida and parts of Alabama, Georgia, and South minor weather events.
Carolina. More than 60,000 workers from across the U.S. and However, these same companies frequently have a second,
Canada mobilized to support the power industrys restoration related and critically essential line of business in storm re-
efforts for these storms. Included in this number were workers sponse when the inevitable major storms occur. The business
from affected companies as well as mutual assistance crews, arrangement for storm response varies by VM company and
contractors and other support personnel. Many of the frst utility, but nearly all utilities and contractors today jointly plan
teams on the scene following the hurricanes included vegeta- normally long before the storm season begins in prone
tion management professionals, who cleared the way for resto- areas to develop the terms of engagement for deployment.
ration and rebuilding to begin. This is their story. Planning includes everything from a range of pricing for
A panoramic night scene of an FPL staging site in Naples, Florida, shows

an army of vegetation management and line equipment at rest prior to
the next days recovery eforts. A large food tent and FEMA trailers where
recovery teams slept are visible in the background. Courtesy of Davey Tree.

the various types of labor and support equipment that may
be involved to mileage rates, per diems and even work prac-
tices. When the call is made from a utility to its partner VM
company, the request to ramp up usually starts with a re-
gional manager who contacts headquarters or, in the case of
the Asplundh Tree Expert LLC, a coordinating storm center
staffed 24 hours a day. Resource availability is compiled for
the utility and then crews and equipment are compiled from a
callout list as the storm unfolds. Headquarters then manages
the dispatch of its resources.
Team Mobilization
Asplundhs Executive Vice President Gregg Asplundh, the
companys corporate storm coordinator, explained aggregat-
ing and mobilizing personnel as well as equipment resources Lewis Wilderness Environmental Services team, based in Canada,
is a multistep process: Crews are released from their local arrives in the U.S. over the Sault Ste. Marie International Bridge
(Michigan/Ontario) in route to support Hurricane Irma recovery.
utilities and sent to pre-staging points requested by the re-
Courtesy of Lewis Tree.
ceiving utilities. After the storm passes through, work is dis-
patched to the crews, sometimes in tandem with line crews While CenterPoint did not need off-system mutual assistance
and sometimes without. He added, We also coordinate re- tree crews, external mutual assistance airboat crews were used
sources through mutual assistance after crews are released, in some cases to ferry tree workers to locations with tree issues.
and once all work is completed, crews are released to their Staff from Lewis Trees Texas offce worked through the
home utilities. Harvey restoration process and then valiantly deployed to help
Part of the team mobilization when a storm is imminent respond when Irma hit, despite the fact many of the employ-
may be extensive travel to a designated staging location. How- ees own homes were impacted severely by the Texas storm.
ever, Lewis Tree Service employees did not have to form a con- Other VM companies deployed to Texas to assist utilities
voy and travel a long distance to respond to Hurricane Har- with restoration, including 400 personnel from Asplundh
vey, which came ashore in Rockport, Texas, on Aug. 25 as a and more than 160 Wright Tree Service employees, who were
Category 4 storm. The storm was right in the backyards of the under the direction of 11 general foremen. The Wright Tree
companys Houston-based personnel. The crews found exten- crews came from six different home utilities and three states.
sive vegetation challenges in the hardest-hit areas, including The crews included two division managers, two division super-
fallen trees pulling down power lines, debris blocking road- visors, and a safety supervisor to provide assistance and over-
ways and major fooding. sight for numerous restoration projects.
CenterPoint Energy had to use all six of its local tree con-
tractors at some point for the storm response, consisting of Back-to-Back Responses
about 75 crews with supervision per day over an 11-day span. When Irma hit, just two weeks after Harvey, The Davey

to return home as they drove from surrounding states and
northern Florida to the hard-hit areas of southern Florida.
Sara Dreiser, a project manager for DRG, said crews trav-
eling to Florida encountered the intense traffc after driving
hundreds of miles from their home base and all that followed
encounters with Irma in Tennessee and Georgia as a tropical
depression and accompanying monsoon-like rain. This is not
uncommon for professional VM companies. ACRT Inc. refers
to its frst-wave responders, who sometimes have to preposi-
tion in or near the path of a storm, as storm riders.
Because weather can be both unpredictable and unavoid-
able, utilities and tree companies plan as much in advance as
possible, including mapping out potential trouble spots and
marshaling points for resources. Whether prepositioned or
mobilizing in real time as an expanding need is recognized,
once on-site, the frst meeting between VM contractors and
other storm crews is an orientation focusing largely on safety.
Crews are often new to one another and frequently working
A Lewis Tree crew removes a large tree from a main road in Florida.
Courtesy of Lewis Tree Service.
Tree Expert Co. was among the organizations that helped

Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL) assemble and preposition
what FPL called the largest restoration workforce in U.S. his-
tory. More than 1000 employees from Davey Tree and its sub-
sidiaries mobilized to support FPL, including hundreds who
traveled from as far away as Maine and California in addition
to those who traveled directly from Harvey recovery efforts
in Texas. The Davey Tree personnel, including folks from the
Davey Resource Group division (DRG), were staged in Lake
City and Daytona Beach, Florida presumably safe areas
about 48 hours before the storm subsided, according to Scott
Anderson, a product developer and market manager for DRG.
As the magnitude of the storms impacts became evident,
FPL and other utilities continued to call in additional support A guard stands by to prevent people from entering the work area.
Photo by Tracy Hawks, Ocala Electric; courtesy of Asplundh.
personnel who could help the utilities work essentially around
the clock to assess damage, clear vegetation and restore ser-
vice. Anderson confrmed the initial stages of the storm were
fuid, with the call numbers growing almost hour to hour.
In fact, more than 4700 Asplundh Tree employees and its
utility infrastructure subsidiaries from around the U.S. were
deployed to Florida to help 15 utilities and municipalities re-
store power in the wake of Irma. Likewise, nearly 650 Wright
Tree employees, under the direction of 43 general foremen,
were deployed to three service areas, including FPL, Tampa
Electric Co. and Duke Energy Corp. to respond to the hur-
ricane. These crews came from 22 different home utilities and
12 states.
Setting the Stage

In preparation for major events like Harvey and Irma, VM
companies routinely stage as many workers and equipment as
close to the recovery area as feasible. Because of the scope of
Irma and her last-minute change in trajectory from Floridas
east coast to west coast, mobilizing storm response crews hit A Tree Inc. contractor works in a live oak above floodwaters to assist
thousands of Florida residents on the road who were trying with CenterPoint Energys Harvey recovery. Courtesy of CenterPoint Energy.

in locations other than their local service territory. Safety
requirements and area practices, communication protocols
and, fnally, work priorities are addressed. The No. 1 focus is
everyone goes home safely.
Working in a hurricane-affected area is different than any
other storm situation, said Kevin Puls, director of eastern op-
erations for ACRT. Each employee of ACRT must meet a min-
imum qualifcation of experience and training to be consid-
ered for the companys storm team. These team members as
well as employees that are part of the utilitys embedded ACRT
team go through a rigorous training course that is specialized
in teaching the challenges that they can expect to encounter
on a daily basis while on storm work.
The company has what it refers to as a Ready Force, which
it sends around the country in response to storms as well as
other quick-response needs. Gregg Asplundh also empha-
sized storm training as he reported, We do drills throughout
the year with our utility partners and have established rules
for the road when employees leave their areas. Local small
storms are always an opportunity to evaluate the performance
of our crews on a small scale. Results from them are rolled into
a greater process.
Despite extensive preplanning by utilities and their con-
tract partners, responding to a major event nearly always in-
volves a triage exercise with one or more vegetation contrac-
tors assigned to construction companies and utility crews, so
they can work in partnership to assess damage, clear access to A toppled banyan tree rests in the lines, blocking a street near Miami,
Florida. Photo by Mick Linxwiler; courtesy of Asplundh.
lines and make repairs.
A practice used for Irma was the prepositioning of asses- such as emergency centers, fre stations, hospitals, water treat-
sors to identify probable trouble areas and expected recovery ment, and other public safety and health facilities is the
steps. Davey Tree sent arborists and tree crews as well as as- frst priority. Crews simultaneously plan for and repair major
sessors and mappers as part of damage-assessment teams. As- power transmission lines, damaged substations and other
sessors went in with initial responders to conduct what DRGs large-scale electrical equipment to restore power to the great-
Anderson referred to as quick sweeps. Then, as clearing of est number of customers as quickly as possible. The triage as-
trees and debris advanced, personnel supplied by full-service pect often comes into play with prioritizing the small pockets
tree companies and utility personnel prepared full damage of customers and areas hardest hit that may require rebuild-
assessments. ing the system.
Of course, restoring power to critical infrastructure Kaleb Smith, lead planner for DRG, obtained the Miami,
Florida, police chiefs phone number to call for a
police escort as he moved his crews throughout
the city. This enabled caravans of tree crews and
linemen to follow the most effcient routes pos-
sible, safely traveling the wrong way down one-way
streets and passing stoplights that were still out.
Smiths out-of-the-box thinking helped get crews
to areas requiring clearing throughout the Miami-
Dade metro area, thereby expediting the restora-
tion process.
Davey Tree personnel also aided the response
in the hardest-hit area of Naples/Ft. Myers, work-
ing with FPL foresters, tree crews and linemen to
complete circuit inspections. Some team members
assisted FPL directly, working with local foresters
to manage and dispatch hundreds of crew resourc-
Tree contractor Trees Inc. and line contractor Front Line maneuver boats over
floodwaters to remove a tree from a CenterPoint Energy primary, afer which they es for an entire site. Others spent much of their
were able to make line repairs to allow reenergization. Courtesy of CenterPoint Energy. time patrolling lines to identify downed wires and

tionship with a utility affected by Harvey or Irma.
Scott Asplundh, CEO and chairman of the board
of Asplundh, conveyed how cooperatively utilities and
their contractors work under mutual assistance arrange-
ments when he thanked Asplundhs utility customers
who released the companys crews from routine work to
assist with the hurricane restoration effort. In a press
release, he stated, With so many mutual assistance utili-
ties in the strike zone for these storms, we are especially
grateful to various rural electric cooperatives and mu-
nicipalities for their understanding and cooperation on
releases.
Behind-the-Scenes Administration
While it may seem mundane during a storm recovery
effort, the administrative process associated with man-
A Gainesville Regional Utility line is buried under uprooted trees and debris. aging a hurricane response is mind-boggling, to say the
Photo by Tracy Hawks, Ocala Electric; courtesy of Asplundh. least. Think about keeping track of the deployment of
thousands of personnel, tracking their food and hous-
ing needs, hours worked, expenses, safety and work
practice communications.
Thanks to modern technology, DRGs Anderson said
the endeavor is a little more manageable than it once
was. He explained, Davey Tree uses G Suite (former-
ly Google Apps for Work) forms for workforce coordi-
nation, time and expense tracking, and more. Also, a
number of our utility clients provide apps that can be
assessed directly from our smartphones.
Asplundh uses mobile time sheets, an electronic
roster and an automatic vehicle management system
all items the company considers the new normal for
storm restoration, with demonstrated improvements in
restoration times. Some VM specialty companies, like
Crews prepare to clean up afer a live oak with internal rot broke and fell into
FPL conductors in Cocoa, Florida. Photo by Joshua Paine; courtesy of Asplundh. CN Utility Consulting Inc., provided inspection and
coordination services for tree-related issues in response
trees while others worked in the feld directly with a smaller to Irma as well as key administrative services like time sheet
group of crews, leading them to sites and directing work. verifcation and approval to assist utilities with the mountains
of paperwork that follow such a storm.
Strategic Mutual Assistance Despite extensive pre-storm preparation, organized and
Events like Harvey and Irma require signifcant coordina- well-executed real-time marshaling by tree companies with
tion, and among the most important coordination mecha- their quick-response teams, resident or embedded personnel,
nisms for storm response and recovery efforts are the mutual and modern administrative aids such as G Suite, Harvey and
assistance arrangements in place among utilities. If connected Irma were quite challenging, to put it mildly. The size and du-
by string, the visible representation of these arrangements ration of these storms as well as fooding in some areas made
would crisscross the country with companies in the Southeast them diffcult to stage and maintain supplies such as fuel.
being connected for mutual aid to organizations in the North- Nonetheless, the VM community rose to the occasion, provid-
east and West, and those in the Midwest paired with compa- ing people and resources in record numbers and frequently
nies in the South and so on. arriving among the frst to the scene to help their utility
The partners in mutual assistance arrangements are fre- clients return life to normal as quickly as possible for the
quently diverse geographically by design in order to increase millions of affected people.
the probability that companies committed to assisting one an- Gregg Asplundh summed up his perspective on this un-
other will not be affected by the same storm or emergency told story, There is always a lot of sacrifce going on during
event. Mutual assistance has occurred between and among and following major storm events. I am proud that our people,
utilities for as long as the power industry has been in exis- their families and many of our customers all pitch in to get
tence, and more than a few tree companies followed and the job done for the utilities and their customers in storm-
assisted their customer utilities who were in a mutual aid rela- damaged areas.

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SPECIAL SUPPLEMENT

DECEMBER 2017 tdworld.com

NEITHER PENTON NOR ANY THIRD PARTY CONTENT PROVIDER OR

Southwire salutes Americas frst responders and linemen.

2017 Southwire Company, LLC. All Rights Reserved.

December 2017 | T&D World 1

2 T&D World | December 2017

NOAAs prediction of an extremely active hurricane season

December 2017 | T&D World 3

All About the Water

4 T&D World | December 2017

December 2017 | T&D World 5

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Entergy sped up restoration by bringing

8 T&D World | December 2017

Entergy: Joining Forces for Restoration

More than 3000 workers from Entergys service territory of Texas,

December 2017 | T&D World 9

12 Techniques for Hardening a System

10 T&D World | December 2017

2017 Valmont Industries, Inc. NAU 015 1017

12 T&D World | December 2017

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14 T&D World | December 2017

THE QUANTA FAMILY OF COMPANIES

J.W. Didado Electric M. J. Electric, LLC North Houston Pole Line

PAR Electrical Contractors, Inc. Potelco, Inc. Probst Electric

Sumter Utilities Valard Construction

16 T&D World | December 2017

cy centers, fre stations, hospitals, and

December 2017 | T&D World 17

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The devastation caused by Hurricane Harvey

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Utility personnel gathered in staging areas

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A panoramic night scene of an FPL staging site in Naples, Florida, shows

28 T&D World | December 2017

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Tree Expert Co. was among the organizations that helped

Setting the Stage

30 T&D World | December 2017

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32 T&D World | December 2017

For more than 50 years, our reputation for quality,

See our online catalog at:

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