Katrina’s Destruction and Mississippi’s Perseverance Remembered

Fifth anniversary of most destructive storm in Entergy Mississippi’s history

Jackson, Miss. – As Hurricane Danielle and another tropical storm churn in the Atlantic Ocean, residents of Mississippi and Louisiana are reflecting on the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, the nation’s greatest natural disaster.
It was also the most destructive storm in Entergy Mississippi, Inc.’s history.
When the hurricane barreled through the state on August 29, 2005, communities throughout the 45-county service area were affected. More than 300,000 of Entergy Mississippi’s 410,000 customers were left without power. Soon after, some 1,200 linemen and support staff were on the ground, in the air and everywhere in between, working around the clock to restore service to customers.
“We had estimated it would take weeks to rebuild our electrical infrastructure, which was about 75 percent damaged,” said Haley Fisackerly, president and chief executive officer of Entergy Mississippi, Inc. At the time, Fisackerly served as the company’s vice president of customer operations.
“But with the cooperation of local leaders and the support of our customers, we were able to restore power in an unprecedented 12 days,” he said. “It was a monumental accomplishment that required incredible commitment and sacrifice by our employees and many of our retirees who also lent their expertise to the effort.”
The successful restoration effort throughout Entergy Mississippi’s service area was the result of many entities—emergency workers, church groups, civic volunteers, military, media and elected officials—working together toward the common goal of rebuilding.
“It was a Herculean effort by all citizens to help each other in our darkest hour,” said Fisackerly. “It was a pivotal event in our state’s history and our company’s history. The blow dealt to Mississippi and to Entergy by Hurricane Katrina was profound, but so was the resiliency of our workers and our customers.”
Albert Einstein once said that the only source of knowledge is experience. Entergy has used the many lessons from Katrina to make the company even stronger and better prepared to respond to catastrophic outages. The company has established a gateway process for all non-Entergy personnel called to assist the utility’s crews. These workers must check in at a designated location outside of the affected area where they undergo an intense, bilingual safety orientation on Entergy’s expectations for safety. They also receive a storm orientation manual developed post-Katrina, and their equipment, trucks and capabilities are inspected by an Entergy team.
Additionally, improvements have been made to the logistics process and new training has been incorporated to allow for more efficient and effective restorations. New partnerships have been developed with logistics vendors and existing relationships strengthened so that the resources are in place to feed, bathe, clothe, house and move the small army that makes up the restoration team.
Entergy is the only utility in the nation to win the top awards from the Edison Electric Institute for emergency response or emergency assistance 11 years in a row.
“Preparing for hurricane season is an ongoing process for Entergy,” said Rick Riley, director of transmission and distribution for Entergy Mississippi, Inc. “Our employees know that being storm-ready is key to a safe and quick restoration.”
Entergy has taken action for the 2010 hurricane season by protecting the system from a potential hurricane. The company has performed detailed hurricane drills, used infrared technology to evaluate priority customer facilities, such as hospitals and police stations, and inspected 200 feeders, nearly 1,000 capacitors and more than 2,000 reclosers. Entergy is also trimming trees along 3,300 line miles regionally to reduce storm-induced power outages and protect vital equipment.
“We’re also educating our customers about our hurricane preparedness efforts, and we’ve renewed and strengthened mutual assistance agreements, contractor alliances and partnerships with key governmental agencies,” said Riley. “Responding to a hurricane, tornadoes or an ice storm is critical to our customers, and we work very hard to be the best.”
Entergy has also announced several new services since Katrina struck in 2005 that are aimed at keeping customers informed, particularly in times of storm-related outages. Most recently, the company unveiled a new website, entergystormcenter.com, which offers breaking news in times of major storms, post-storm electrical safety tips, updates by area and photos and videos.
Also, customers can sign up for My Account Anywhere on the company’s website at entergy-mississippi.com, to send and receive outage-related text messages. Customers can also receive breaking news and outage updates by following Entergy Mississippi on Twitter at EntergyMediaMS.
Entergy Mississippi, Inc. provides electricity to more than 435,000 customers in 45 counties. It is a subsidiary of Entergy Corporation. Entergy Corporation is an integrated energy company engaged primarily in electric power production and retail distribution operations. Entergy owns and operates power plants with approximately 30,000 megawatts of electric generating capacity, and it is the second-largest nuclear generator in the United States. Entergy delivers electricity to 2.7 million utility customers in Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.

Contact:
Mara Hartmann
Entergy Mississippi, Inc.
mhartma@entergy.com