First, I want to thank Jaguar Media for allowing me to dedicate this editorial to the hurricane relief efforts in my home state of Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast region, which includes our neighbors in Florida, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. Special thanks also go out to our colleagues, friends and others who sent messages of caring and concern following the two hurricanes that brutally devastated this area. It definitely made one of the most difficult episodes in my life easier than it might have otherwise been, knowing that we have so many friends in so many places.
Thank you.
I’m very fortunate to be able to say that my personal experience in this unprecedented national disaster has a happy ending with no loss of life and only minimal property damage endured by friends, family and business associates. Others – many, many others – have not been so lucky. People who had a lot more to lose as well as those who lost everything bore the brunt of these killer storms. However, as a longtime resident and businessperson returning to this area in its aftermath, I feel that I have a perspective worth sharing, especially as it relates to our industry;
I hope you agree. – Mike Marullo
_____________________
In the nearly 35 years I’ve lived in the New Orleans area, I have never before evacuated for a hurricane; I really didn’t intend to leave for Katrina either. However, when I woke up the Sunday morning before the storm hit, I knew that this time it would be different. Having seen the destruction caused by Hurricane Camille on the Gulf Coast in 1969, I knew better than to defy a Category-5 storm, which is what Katrina was before weakening to a Cat-4 and making landfall on August 29th.
Just months before moving to New Orleans from Upstate New York in 1970, I visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast exactly one year after Camille had struck the area. What I saw was shocking; it looked like it had happened the day before rather than the year before. The enormity of the destruction was hard to grasp at first, but it made a lasting impression as I watched the recovery take place, very slowly… over the next 25+ years! At the time, Hurricane Camille was considered a 100-year storm; a once-in-a-lifetime event. Then, on August 24th, 1992 along came Andrew, the hurricane that wiped out Homestead and much of south Florida – another 100-year storm, but amazingly still in my lifetime (and I wasn’t even 100 years old yet!).
But that was south Florida, a long way from New Orleans, and we all know that major hurricanes never hit the same place more than once in a lifetime, right? Well, that’s what we thought until FOUR hurricanes last year took essentially the same path in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in about as many weeks. Even so, I figured that after two major storms in less than 40 years, the odds were still on my side. I also figured that the likelihood that another killer storm like Camille or Andrew would strike New Orleans was pretty slim since we had dodged that bullet so many times in the past. (So much for the playing the odds; that’s why I stay out of casinos!)
By 5PM Sunday (August 28th), having hastily packed up the cars with the most critical personal and business belongings, I was mindful of what was about to happen. Eight hours later, we had made it to West Monroe, Louisiana – a trip that ordinarily would have taken less than half the time. But that was NOT our intended destination. There were simply no hotel rooms anywhere to be found in north Louisiana or even as far north as Memphis. So we wound up spending the night in the car and in the back of a flatbed truck (till it started raining) in the parking lot of the local Jeep dealership, which I now fondly refer to as The Jeep Motel. (There’s at least one in almost every city!)
Once we finally arrived in Dallas at about 2PM on Monday, we stayed glued to the TV for most of the next two weeks watching the unthinkable eerily unfold hour-by-hour; day-by-day; minute-by-minute. We’ve all seen the images on TV showing the destruction caused by these storms. Unbelievable though they might seem, they still cannot convey the breadth of the destruction for hundreds of miles in all directions. Even being here in the middle of it, the destruction remains surreal; it just doesn’t seem possible that this really happened.
The hotel management and staff and the people in Texas were absolutely wonderful. They went far beyond the basics to make us comfortable and provide anything we needed; usually without even having to ask. The second day we were there, a local moving company showed up at the hotel with literally a truckload of food and fed everyone in the hotel for a couple of days. The first weekend after we arrived, a church group put on a home-cooked dinner for everyone there. Then, a couple days before we left, an Oreck (vacuum cleaner company) franchisee from the Washington, DC area flew to Dallas, bought a truckload of food, snacks and refreshments at a nearby Sam’s store, dropped it off at the hotel, got back on a plane and flew back to DC.
For those who may not know, David Oreck, the founder and owner of the company, is from New Orleans, but this guy acted on entirely on his own. When I asked him what motivated him to do it, he said, “I just couldn’t sit in front of the TV and watch all those people suffer anymore without at least trying do something to help.”
(Thank goodness for good Samaritans.)
These are just a few of many acts of kindness and generosity that many of us have experienced during this ordeal. However, there are other things that also deserve recognition, namely the tireless and downright heroic deeds of our electric utility industry. Following are a couple of examples, but there are many more that unfortunately will probably never be told.
One thing you learn fast in the aftermath of a hurricane is how much we all rely on power and communications. The first thing you want to do is make sure that your friends and family are safe and get your life back in order ASAP, but you cannot do any of that without electricity. I’m very
fortunate to have a longtime friend at Entergy that I know I can rely on for the straight scoop in times of crisis. Make no mistake, there is not going to be any return to normal here for a long time, but that made his insights all that much more important. Also, as a friend, I was genuinely concerned about his own wellbeing and that of his family.
There was no way to call him, but when I finally reached him via email a week or so after the storm, he was already at an Entergy command post in Jackson, Mississippi, about 3 hours north of New Orleans for some time. He said his family was okay, but he had not even been to his house to see if he still had one. A couple of weeks later (just before Rita made landfall) we exchanged brief emails again. This time he had been home for a short stint (his house was okay) but was again headed back to his post at the Jackson command center. By the way, Jackson was not spared the storms either with tornadoes inflicting millions of dollars worth of damage throughout the metro-area; hardly what one could consider an escape or safe haven for
anyone.
After we returned home two weeks after Katrina, the power was already on, but then everything went dark early the next morning as the feeder bands from Rita started to blow the already bent and broken trees and branches around. I was just about to report the outage when a neighbor said that help was already on the way. It seems that an Entergy lineman who lives just up the street had already identified the blown fuse on the distribution line and was in the process of changing it out for a new one. Power was restored a short time later, and we rejoiced over not having to ditch another refrigerator full of food.
However, our celebration was short-lived when another wind gust a few hours later caused the same fuse to blow. This time I happened to catch the Entergy guy in his truck as he was heading across the river in search of another fuse. In our brief conversation, I learned that he had been working practically around the clock since well before Katrina arrived; this was to have been his first day off in nearly a month. He wasn’t happy, but he was definitely determined to spend his first day of rest in an air-conditioned house and enjoying a cold beverage after doing without those amenities for so long. He returned about an hour later, his front seat piled with extra fuses!
Needless to say, I have nothing but the utmost respect for both my friend and my neighbor and the many people like them who put duty and responsibility to their communities ahead of all else. I’d like to think I’d do the same under similar circumstances, but that is no easy call for anyone to have to make. In the days and weeks that followed, I’ve witnessed unimaginably rapid progress in restoring power throughout the region in the midst of the most complete devastation I’ve ever seen in my life. How those crews managed to resurrect such a badly broken network in such a short period of time defies all reason (and in some cases, physics!).
Actually, I do know a couple of the answers: Disaster Planning and Mutual Cooperation. Anyone who lives in an area prone to natural disasters – whether hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, ice storms, or a combination – knows the value of having a disaster recovery plan. And, utilities across North America learned a long time ago that no one utility could weather these catastrophic events alone. Hence, within days after Katrina struck, it was gratifying and very reassuring to see trucks and equipment moving in, literally from all corners of the continent to work long, hard days, nights and weekends beside their industry brethren.
Another dimension of the good coming out of an otherwise very bad situation is the wave of contributions received from the constituents of our industry. A few days ago I learned that one of our most prominent suppliers to the utility automation/IT industry had donated over $100,000 to the Louisiana Hurricane Relief Fund. Of that amount, about a fourth was donated by the employees themselves and was then triple-matched by the company. This is just one that I know of; I’m sure there are others. And, despite the tendency to perhaps sometimes (often?) feel like no one really cares much about anyone else in our fast-paced world, all I can say is wrong, wrong, wrong! People we’ve never met – and probably never will – have opened their hearts and wallets to help complete strangers, just because they can.
I suppose I would be remiss to end this without saying something about automation. There is actually so much to say that I’ll have to gather my thoughts on it for a future column. For now, let it suffice to say that the vital role automation not only already plays – but can and should play in disaster planning and recovery in the future – cannot be overstated. Meanwhile, I’m happy to know that when towers need to be erected, power lines re-strung, substations rebuilt and services restored, our industry is more than up to the challenge. So, the next time you see a utility crew in your neighborhood, give ‘em the high sign or a pat on the back, and tell them that Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast says, “thank you for a job well done.” The power is (truly) with us!
(Because of the context of this article, I’ve focused mainly on the exemplary deeds of our devoted colleagues and friends in the electric utility industry. However, let me also acknowledge that the acts and dedication of all first-responders including police, fire, ambulance, EMS and others from as far away as Alaska, Canada, Mexico and even from abroad, all deserve our deepest gratitude and appreciation for all their help. They are among the true heroes of our time. – Ed.)
________________
About the Author
Mike Marullo has been active in the automation, controls and instrumentation field for more than 35 years and is a widely published author of numerous technical articles, industry directories and market research reports. An independent consultant since 1984, he is co-founder and Director of Research & Consulting for InfoNetrix LLC, a New Orleans-based market intelligence firm focused on Utility Automation and IT markets. Inquiries or comments about this column may be directed to Mike at MAM@InfoNetrix.com.
©2005 Jaguar Media, Inc. & Michael A. Marullo. All rights reserved.
Thank you.
I’m very fortunate to be able to say that my personal experience in this unprecedented national disaster has a happy ending with no loss of life and only minimal property damage endured by friends, family and business associates. Others – many, many others – have not been so lucky. People who had a lot more to lose as well as those who lost everything bore the brunt of these killer storms. However, as a longtime resident and businessperson returning to this area in its aftermath, I feel that I have a perspective worth sharing, especially as it relates to our industry;
I hope you agree. – Mike Marullo
_____________________
In the nearly 35 years I’ve lived in the New Orleans area, I have never before evacuated for a hurricane; I really didn’t intend to leave for Katrina either. However, when I woke up the Sunday morning before the storm hit, I knew that this time it would be different. Having seen the destruction caused by Hurricane Camille on the Gulf Coast in 1969, I knew better than to defy a Category-5 storm, which is what Katrina was before weakening to a Cat-4 and making landfall on August 29th.
Just months before moving to New Orleans from Upstate New York in 1970, I visited the Mississippi Gulf Coast exactly one year after Camille had struck the area. What I saw was shocking; it looked like it had happened the day before rather than the year before. The enormity of the destruction was hard to grasp at first, but it made a lasting impression as I watched the recovery take place, very slowly… over the next 25+ years! At the time, Hurricane Camille was considered a 100-year storm; a once-in-a-lifetime event. Then, on August 24th, 1992 along came Andrew, the hurricane that wiped out Homestead and much of south Florida – another 100-year storm, but amazingly still in my lifetime (and I wasn’t even 100 years old yet!).
But that was south Florida, a long way from New Orleans, and we all know that major hurricanes never hit the same place more than once in a lifetime, right? Well, that’s what we thought until FOUR hurricanes last year took essentially the same path in the eastern Gulf of Mexico in about as many weeks. Even so, I figured that after two major storms in less than 40 years, the odds were still on my side. I also figured that the likelihood that another killer storm like Camille or Andrew would strike New Orleans was pretty slim since we had dodged that bullet so many times in the past. (So much for the playing the odds; that’s why I stay out of casinos!)
By 5PM Sunday (August 28th), having hastily packed up the cars with the most critical personal and business belongings, I was mindful of what was about to happen. Eight hours later, we had made it to West Monroe, Louisiana – a trip that ordinarily would have taken less than half the time. But that was NOT our intended destination. There were simply no hotel rooms anywhere to be found in north Louisiana or even as far north as Memphis. So we wound up spending the night in the car and in the back of a flatbed truck (till it started raining) in the parking lot of the local Jeep dealership, which I now fondly refer to as The Jeep Motel. (There’s at least one in almost every city!)
Once we finally arrived in Dallas at about 2PM on Monday, we stayed glued to the TV for most of the next two weeks watching the unthinkable eerily unfold hour-by-hour; day-by-day; minute-by-minute. We’ve all seen the images on TV showing the destruction caused by these storms. Unbelievable though they might seem, they still cannot convey the breadth of the destruction for hundreds of miles in all directions. Even being here in the middle of it, the destruction remains surreal; it just doesn’t seem possible that this really happened.
The hotel management and staff and the people in Texas were absolutely wonderful. They went far beyond the basics to make us comfortable and provide anything we needed; usually without even having to ask. The second day we were there, a local moving company showed up at the hotel with literally a truckload of food and fed everyone in the hotel for a couple of days. The first weekend after we arrived, a church group put on a home-cooked dinner for everyone there. Then, a couple days before we left, an Oreck (vacuum cleaner company) franchisee from the Washington, DC area flew to Dallas, bought a truckload of food, snacks and refreshments at a nearby Sam’s store, dropped it off at the hotel, got back on a plane and flew back to DC.
For those who may not know, David Oreck, the founder and owner of the company, is from New Orleans, but this guy acted on entirely on his own. When I asked him what motivated him to do it, he said, “I just couldn’t sit in front of the TV and watch all those people suffer anymore without at least trying do something to help.”
(Thank goodness for good Samaritans.)
These are just a few of many acts of kindness and generosity that many of us have experienced during this ordeal. However, there are other things that also deserve recognition, namely the tireless and downright heroic deeds of our electric utility industry. Following are a couple of examples, but there are many more that unfortunately will probably never be told.
One thing you learn fast in the aftermath of a hurricane is how much we all rely on power and communications. The first thing you want to do is make sure that your friends and family are safe and get your life back in order ASAP, but you cannot do any of that without electricity. I’m very
fortunate to have a longtime friend at Entergy that I know I can rely on for the straight scoop in times of crisis. Make no mistake, there is not going to be any return to normal here for a long time, but that made his insights all that much more important. Also, as a friend, I was genuinely concerned about his own wellbeing and that of his family.
There was no way to call him, but when I finally reached him via email a week or so after the storm, he was already at an Entergy command post in Jackson, Mississippi, about 3 hours north of New Orleans for some time. He said his family was okay, but he had not even been to his house to see if he still had one. A couple of weeks later (just before Rita made landfall) we exchanged brief emails again. This time he had been home for a short stint (his house was okay) but was again headed back to his post at the Jackson command center. By the way, Jackson was not spared the storms either with tornadoes inflicting millions of dollars worth of damage throughout the metro-area; hardly what one could consider an escape or safe haven for
anyone.
After we returned home two weeks after Katrina, the power was already on, but then everything went dark early the next morning as the feeder bands from Rita started to blow the already bent and broken trees and branches around. I was just about to report the outage when a neighbor said that help was already on the way. It seems that an Entergy lineman who lives just up the street had already identified the blown fuse on the distribution line and was in the process of changing it out for a new one. Power was restored a short time later, and we rejoiced over not having to ditch another refrigerator full of food.
However, our celebration was short-lived when another wind gust a few hours later caused the same fuse to blow. This time I happened to catch the Entergy guy in his truck as he was heading across the river in search of another fuse. In our brief conversation, I learned that he had been working practically around the clock since well before Katrina arrived; this was to have been his first day off in nearly a month. He wasn’t happy, but he was definitely determined to spend his first day of rest in an air-conditioned house and enjoying a cold beverage after doing without those amenities for so long. He returned about an hour later, his front seat piled with extra fuses!
Needless to say, I have nothing but the utmost respect for both my friend and my neighbor and the many people like them who put duty and responsibility to their communities ahead of all else. I’d like to think I’d do the same under similar circumstances, but that is no easy call for anyone to have to make. In the days and weeks that followed, I’ve witnessed unimaginably rapid progress in restoring power throughout the region in the midst of the most complete devastation I’ve ever seen in my life. How those crews managed to resurrect such a badly broken network in such a short period of time defies all reason (and in some cases, physics!).
Actually, I do know a couple of the answers: Disaster Planning and Mutual Cooperation. Anyone who lives in an area prone to natural disasters – whether hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, earthquakes, ice storms, or a combination – knows the value of having a disaster recovery plan. And, utilities across North America learned a long time ago that no one utility could weather these catastrophic events alone. Hence, within days after Katrina struck, it was gratifying and very reassuring to see trucks and equipment moving in, literally from all corners of the continent to work long, hard days, nights and weekends beside their industry brethren.
Another dimension of the good coming out of an otherwise very bad situation is the wave of contributions received from the constituents of our industry. A few days ago I learned that one of our most prominent suppliers to the utility automation/IT industry had donated over $100,000 to the Louisiana Hurricane Relief Fund. Of that amount, about a fourth was donated by the employees themselves and was then triple-matched by the company. This is just one that I know of; I’m sure there are others. And, despite the tendency to perhaps sometimes (often?) feel like no one really cares much about anyone else in our fast-paced world, all I can say is wrong, wrong, wrong! People we’ve never met – and probably never will – have opened their hearts and wallets to help complete strangers, just because they can.
I suppose I would be remiss to end this without saying something about automation. There is actually so much to say that I’ll have to gather my thoughts on it for a future column. For now, let it suffice to say that the vital role automation not only already plays – but can and should play in disaster planning and recovery in the future – cannot be overstated. Meanwhile, I’m happy to know that when towers need to be erected, power lines re-strung, substations rebuilt and services restored, our industry is more than up to the challenge. So, the next time you see a utility crew in your neighborhood, give ‘em the high sign or a pat on the back, and tell them that Louisiana and the entire Gulf Coast says, “thank you for a job well done.” The power is (truly) with us!
(Because of the context of this article, I’ve focused mainly on the exemplary deeds of our devoted colleagues and friends in the electric utility industry. However, let me also acknowledge that the acts and dedication of all first-responders including police, fire, ambulance, EMS and others from as far away as Alaska, Canada, Mexico and even from abroad, all deserve our deepest gratitude and appreciation for all their help. They are among the true heroes of our time. – Ed.)
________________
About the Author
Mike Marullo has been active in the automation, controls and instrumentation field for more than 35 years and is a widely published author of numerous technical articles, industry directories and market research reports. An independent consultant since 1984, he is co-founder and Director of Research & Consulting for InfoNetrix LLC, a New Orleans-based market intelligence firm focused on Utility Automation and IT markets. Inquiries or comments about this column may be directed to Mike at MAM@InfoNetrix.com.
©2005 Jaguar Media, Inc. & Michael A. Marullo. All rights reserved.
