GreyStone helps restore power after Katrina
After Hurricane Katrina swept across Mississippi, Louisiana and Alabama, power lines and entire power distribution systems were destroyed. A cry for help to rebuild the lines and restore power to hundreds of thousands of members has been heard across the nation, and GreyStone Power is answering the call. On Aug. 31 the Douglasville-based electric cooperative sent four crews with a total of 17 men to help restore electricity in Mississippi.
Early Wednesday morning two five-man crews and two three-man crews left Douglasville to join forces with 4-County Electric Power Association in Columbus, MS. 4-County Electric serves 42,000 members in eight rural Mississippi counties, with more than 5,000 miles of power lines. Initially the cooperative lost power to 32,000 members, and as of Wednesday afternoon 8,000 members were still without electricity.
"It's been pretty rough as we try to assess the damage to poles, crossties and lines and make the necessary repairs," said 4-County Electric President/CEO Allegra Brigham. "The outages are scattered at various points throughout the system. We're considering ourselves blessed that Katrina didn't take down our entire system."
According to the Electric Power Associations of Mississippi (EPAM), 449,000 meters are without service, representing 64 percent of the state’s electric cooperative members.
"All systems are reporting outages. One system has 30,000 poles on the ground, and nine of our 25 distribution co-ops have virtually no meters on," said Ron Stewart with EPAM. "Approximately 1,000 volunteers outside of the state emergency crew members from seven states are here or en route. We also have transmission problems...all this and full assessment has not been completed.
"But while things here are bad, that's when cooperative family members rise to the occasion," said Stewart. "Our cry for help has been heard and our cooperative friends have, without hesitation, sent help. We continue to hear from people offering assistance and without doubt, will be accepting their offer. After all, one system is reporting it will take up to six weeks to restore power."
The bond between electric providers both locally and nationally is strong, and whenever a storm hits there are always helping hands available to get the lights back on as soon as possible.
"We always send folks if we can. There’s camaraderie, a sense of obligation in this business," said GreyStone Power Construction Department Manager Steve Findley. In the last two years GreyStone has sent crews to Virginia and Florida to help restore power after hurricane damage. While in Florida one GreyStone crew rescued a man from his home after he passed out from deadly generator fumes. Unfortunately, his wife could not be saved.
"The more people you can throw at a wide-spread outage, the faster you can get the power on. There’s only so much one crew can do in a day," said Findley. "After a storm you have bad conditions to work under, and you’ve got to be safe. Restoring power is something you can’t rush
you have to put the safety of your men first."
GreyStone Power employees on their way to assist in Mississippi include Line Foremen Kenny Wylie, Eddie Elrod and Billy Vaughan; Service Foreman Steve Jenkins; Lead Lineman Andre Reed; Linemen Chris Brown, John Timms and Keith Bailey and Apprentice Lineman Chris Gibson, Albert Morris, Tony Brown, Adam Gurley, Travis Fambrough, Daniel Wix, Bryn Speck, Eric Taylor and Taylor Shadrix. They will join other linemen from Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina to help restore electricity in Mississippi.
Click here to find out how to help displaced persons from Katrina in our community
