Entergy talks ice storm damage
Early Feb. 2 saw a major ice storm move across south Arkansas, from El Dorado to McGehee, leaving mass power outages in its wake.
As of Feb. 6, Entergy Arkansas reported 181,000 customers had lost power due to the earlier snow storm in the Harrison area and ice event across the southern half of the state.
Not including emergency crews brought in to assist other utility companies with their outages, Entergy mustered 3,000-plus linemen from as far away as Mountain View and New Orleans to descend on south Arkansas to facilitate rapid restoration of service to the affected areas.
“Besides coordinating the army of linemen working 16-hour days, we had to provide meals, lodging, fuel for trucks, and a mountain of repair materials,” said Entergy spokesman Kacee Kirschvink. “We also brought in a variety of equipment including swamp buggies and other tracked machinery, 4-wheelers, ATV’s, helicopters and drones to access power lines in some of the remote areas deep in ice-shattered timber.”
“As of Monday Feb. 6, we estimate 393 broken poles, 1,804 downed spans of wire and 44 damaged transformers. We are sure that number will go up as we continue to make repairs,” Kirschvink said.
Entergy’s El Dorado area supervisor Josh Morris said, “This is the closest thing to a hurricane we will probably ever see.”
Dallas County Sheriff Mike Knoedl commented on one of the hardest hit areas by the ice storm.
“We’ve worked in close conjunction with both Entergy and the Arkansas Department of Transportation in and around Fordyce since Saturday to help them do what they need to do to keep the roads safe and reach the places they need to go. We’ve also had several emergency medical calls that we’ve been able
to provide assistance with to get people the care they need,” Knoedl said.
Fordyce Mayor John MacNichol is counting the cost.
“It has been totally devastating as far as I can see,” MacNichol said. “Our city Street Department head, Mark Garrett, is working up an estimate to turn in … for emergency assistance. I’m guessing at this point the figure will be somewhere in the $150,000 range for damage and clean up expenses.”
“Entergy has done a fantastic job getting us back online. Everyone has worked together from the Street Department keeping our roads open to the police and fire department responding to every emergency call. Our local restaurants and hotels have done a great job of providing food and lodging for all the utility workers and citizens without power in their homes,” MacNichol said.
Monticello Mayor Jason Akers said Feb. 8 the power in Monticello was fully restored.
“I believe most of the rural areas in the county are restored with a few isolated spots still being repaired,” Akers said.
“We’ve already had a post incident meeting of city officials to look at what we did right and what we could have done better. Most cities handle situations like this ad hoc but we want to do a better job in the future by having set procedures established for food and warming centers and prioritized debris removal and street clearing. For instance, the first roads we want to clear are those leading to the hospital then nursing homes next, etc.,” Akers said.
“The police chief suggested that his department have a couple of designated chain saws at their disposal because what good is prepared emergency response if you can’t get down the roads to reach those who need you,” he said.
He was also asked about the utility company response in the wake of the storm.
“Entergy has been phenomenal. I’ve been really impressed with their rapid response. It’s probably the best I’ve ever seen from similar incidents in the past. Chris Cook is our local supervisor and he was on the phone with me as this thing began to unfold with a list of questions about where we needed power restored first and how they could best help us. They actually got City Hall back on the very next day,” Akers said.
All the Entergy people have been very candid and open with us sharing the issues they encountered in the process.
“We’re just proud there were no major incidents and everyone has made it through safe and alive,” Akers said.