Southeast U.S. Utility
Hurricane Laura devastated the community of Lakes Charles in Louisiana, causing hundreds of thousands of a Southeastern U.S. utility’s customers to lose power. Davey stepped in to clear tree debris for the utility repair crews to restore power.
The Challenge
Hurricane Laura, a category 4 hurricane, was the strongest storm to hit Louisiana since 1856, with maximum sustained winds of 150 miles per hour. Lake Charles, Louisiana, bore the brunt of the storm as it moved inland.
The strong winds and flooding caused severe damage to the area, including to the transmission and distribution systems of a local utility. By the time the storm was over, 615,000 customers in Louisiana had lost power. Of those 615,000 customers, 568,000 were the utility’s customers in Louisiana and Texas.
The Solution
Davey sent 54 crew members and 3 general foremen who typically work on a Tampa, FL account to Lake Charles in late August 2020 to work alongside several local crews to clear the damaged trees from power lines and clear roadways for the utility’s repair crews.
Due to the severity of the storm damage, the utility had to conduct a full system rebuild of electrical infrastructure.
The Results
Davey crews completed their work in late September 2020. The utility’s crews completed their repairs soon after, and power was fully restored to all Lake Charles customers by 6 weeks post-hurricane.
Lake Charles residents were grateful for the work Davey provided to help restore power after such a devastating storm.
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