Over the last several years, there has been a sharp increase in the number of extreme weather scenarios across the country, from disastrous floods to sweeping fires and paralyzing freezes. With so much potential for disruption, it’s critical to have a plan in place to get businesses and communities up and running when disaster strikes. No one is immune to crises, but we can take the appropriate steps to respond to them.
Entergy has developed a set of unique and time-tested response processes that allow even our largest organizations to get back up and running. Below are several essential components of post-weather damage recovery that make Entergy sites some of the most resilient in the country.
Obviously one of the most important elements of any response is putting a plan in place to minimize damage and decrease downtime. However, a plan is only beneficial in practical applications if it’s been tested and can achieve realistic goals in real time. Running safety drills with team members on a regular basis will ensure that everyone knows their roles and can quickly address issues as they arise. As they say, practice makes perfect.
When Hurricane Ida hit the Gulf Coast in 2021, Entergy’s preparations were put to the test. We deployed thousands of workers to reduce the impact to our customers, eventually restoring power to nearly 950,000 customers. Within one week, power was restored to 55% of customers, with up to 90% being restored within two weeks.
In the wake of a major storm, it’s crucial to act as swiftly as possible, providing updates and taking action in order to return to stability.
As an energy provider, our main priority is to safely deliver power to homes and businesses, and have operations fully restored and functioning properly. During Hurricane Ida, Entergy made nearly 3.3 million proactive customer calls, sent more than 400,000 business emails as well as 11.4 million customer texts. Whether it’s alerting our communities to outages, sharing safety information, or providing helpful resources, keeping our customers informed with accurate and timely information is important to us.
The safety and well-being of all team members and community residents is at the forefront of all we do, whether it’s before, during or after a severe weather. Part of having an emergency response plan in place is providing a clear course of action and readily available resources for employees. As information is distributed throughout the area and within companies, organizations should touch base individually with their team members, outline next steps and acknowledge that there may be an adjustment period. Health and safety comes before work, no matter what.
At Entergy, the safety of our workforce remains at the core of what we do, all day, every day. During storm restoration, our workforce is reminded to be aware of changing conditions, uneven terrain, heat exhaustion and the many other hazards present in the field. After Hurricane Ida, our restoration workforces completed nearly 8 million hours of work. In fact, Entergy successfully completed restoration with less than 1% of our workers requiring quarantine or isolation from exposure or infection — a testament to the health and safety mitigation practices by all those involved.
As a leader in storm response, Entergy relies on our continuous cycle of planning, preparation, training, and evaluation. Annual readiness drills and training, such as computer-based and event tabletops are conducted to promote and test awareness. We follow a very detailed, rehearsed plan that has worked well for us during storm recovery. Every situation is unique, so while plans are rehearsed and in place, we also adapt to ever-changing conditions in the environment.
Building a resilient grid is not a destination. It’s an ongoing, evolving endeavor. We are continuously upgrading and strengthening our power generation, transmission, and distribution systems, including evolving how our facilities are designed, built and maintained; incorporating more aggressive investment strategies; and deploying new technologies.
