Page 9 - Louisiana 811 Magazine 2020 Issue 4

in, mostly from local fire departments, it was obvious that coordinating the utility restoration was going to be critical to our recovery efforts.”
We’ve all seen the mutual aid support that power companies have in place in times of disaster. It’s impressive to see convoys of electrical trucks, manpower and equipment coming to restore power grids in record time and often working around the clock to bring some sense of normalcy back to an affected area. It can be overwhelming to other utilities trying to stay up with the volume of work that must take place.
Molly continued, “From the time Laura hit the coast and through the next five weeks, there were about 4800 Entergy mutual aid workers working together to replace more than 11,000 downed poles without creating damages to other underground facilities.”
She then said, “It was apparent that there needed to be a
plan to protect underground utility lines that could be in conflict. As the result of that mutual concern Entergy, AT&T and CenterPoint partnered with one another and with their locating partner USIC to develop and execute a plan with safety and damage prevention in mind. So it was determined that when the mutual aid workers arrived to rebuild the power grid, a locate ticket would be called in for each and every job. Line locators would then be dispatched to stay ahead of the mutual aid crews working on the pole replacement projects. This pro-active approach allowed the mutual aid crew to
focus on their task at hand and at the same time protect our underground utility lines as well as those of other utilities in the area.”
Molly thought for a moment and said, “It has been a learning experience for sure. By working together, we were not only able to ensure the safety of the crews in the area, but at the same time, to protect the communities and neighborhoods we served.”
While USIC was committed to locating ahead of the mutual aid crews, CenterPoint’s employees were busy responding to damages to their own natural gas facilities from things such as uprooted trees, flying debris and collapsed houses.
Molly said, “For the first couple of days, in addition to our crews completing assessments to determine areas with damaged natural gas facilities, we were also receiving reports from fire departments as they responded to calls from concerned citizens. When the mutual aid crews arrived, they began to report damages to our natural gas facilities as well when they identified them on their project sites. One of
the ways our Damage Prevention team jumped in to assist
our local Operations group was to assist in calling in the emergency locate requests for our own crews to Louisiana 811.”
When asked how that went, she said, “The Louisiana 811 agents were absolutely amazing. They continued to answer the phone with grace and professionalism. They were kind and understanding of our situation. We were calling so often; they began asking us how we were doing. They certainly helped to make the process more bearable.”
Looking back over the immediate impact and subsequent restoration of services to customers in the area, Molly was asked about lessons learned that she could share with readers of the 811 Magazines.
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2020, Issue 4
Louisiana 811
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10/13/17 9:36 AM