Gulf Coast utilities mobilize for service restoration as Hurricane Zeta approaches
As meteorologists predict major winds, rainfall, storm surge, and accompanying power outages across the Gulf Coast, local utilities are mobilizing thousands of workers to respond to a strengthening Hurricane Zeta expected to make landfall later today in Louisiana and Mississippi.
While it had degraded into a tropical storm, Zeta regained hurricane strength as of early this morning, bringing with it the likelihood of 74 mph or greater winds and the possibility of a Category 2 storm, according to the latest National Hurricane Center forecast. It is expected to weaken after landfall due to wind shear and cooler waters. Still, power outages are expected to spread all the way from Louisiana to Georgia, and life-threatening storm surge flooding will likely slam parts of the northern Gulf as the storm arrives this afternoon or evening.
As a result, the region’s utilities have sprung into action. At Entergy’s Louisiana utilities alone, a storm team of approximately 3,800 workers has been mobilized as company personnel monitor the storm and adjust the response team’s size accordingly.
“Zeta is the 27th named storm and will be the 11th to strike the U.S. mainland in a single season,” Entergy said in a release. “We continuously learn and improve from storm experiences, including Hurricane Laura that devastated Southwest Louisiana after making landfall Aug. 27 and Hurricane Delta on Oct. 9.”
Following those storms, Entergy assembled large restoration workforces and has worked on updating and improving storm damage restoration operations. Storm hardening updates also benefited its system, bringing in steel transmission structures along the coast, elevating substations to bar flooding, and installing devices meant to isolate power and reduce outages.
Teams from Entergy New Orleans, LLC, and Entergy Louisiana, LLC, will be positioned near areas likely to be impacted. Some of this work may be delayed by conditions, though, as certain restoration work can only be done in the air, from bucket trucks, which cannot be operated in wind conditions of 30 mph or greater.
“We have a plan in place that we’ve put into practice several times this year, and this storm will be no different,” John Hawkins, vice president of distribution operations for Entergy in Louisiana, said. “I am confident that our crews, contractors, and support personnel will do all they can to restore power safely and as quickly as possible. We encourage our customers to continue to be storm ready and have a family plan in place — even after Zeta passes. We will get through this together.”
Indeed, Entergy is hardly alone in these preparation efforts. Cleco and Southern Company’s utilities are all among those preparing for the worst as the industry mobilizes for its mutual assistance program. Some of these crews only recently completed power restoration in the wake of Hurricane Sally.
“As of today, we have secured over 200 contractors to help us restore power if needed, and we’re currently working to secure additional resources,” James Lass, Cleco’s director of distribution operations and emergency management, said. “We look at the intensity and path of a storm to estimate the number of workers we need. Our customers in St. Tammany and Washington parishes should be prepared for heavy rainfall, damaging winds, isolated tornadoes, and power outages.”
A hurricane warning stretches from Morgan City, La., to the Mississippi/Alabama border. Storm surges could strike from Intracoastal City, La., to Navarre, Fla.
