Davey Tree Flipbooks

9 September/October 2021 | THE DAVEY BULLETIN More than 300 Davey employees responded to the Gulf Coast to help residents and businesses recover from damage caused by Hurricane Ida, which made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Aug. 29 near Port Fourchon, Louisiana. The storm brought with it sustained winds of 150 mph as it crawled across the Bayou State. The heavy winds blew over or snapped in half trees and utility poles and ripped off roofs of homes and businesses as it made its way northeast through Mississippi and the mid-Atlantic toward New England. Mike Wheeler, supervisor, Withlacoochee Electric account, traveled from Florida with 20 Davey crews to help Cleco Corporate Holdings restore power to its electric customers in Louisiana. "The homeowners and locals I spoke with around here say it's worse than Katrina because of the wind, because it was such a slow storm," Wheeler said. "Katrina had much more flooding, but this one was a lot of wind. We've seen a lot of tree damage and a lot of home damage like broken poles, trees through houses. It's pretty bad." The Davey Tree Surgery Company sent utility crews from the Centerpoint Energy account in Texas to also assist Cleco with its storm response. "We worked a day and a half in Opelousas, Louisiana, before they moved us to Covington about 125 miles HURRICANE IDA DESTRUCTIVE PATH SPANS GULF COAST TO NEW ENGLAND east," said Brandon Freeman, area manager. "The crews were working in Covington on all storm restoration work for nine days before heading back to Houston. They were working 16-hour days the entire time." Before the storm pushed out to sea off the New England coast it marched through the Southeast and Mid-Atlantic states. Before moving offshore, the remnants of Ida spawned tornados that wreaked havoc in New Jersey and New York. Raymond Betances, area manager, Eastern Utility services, said a combination of heavy rains that saturated soils and intense winds led to many trees simply falling over during the storm – and crashing into poles and electric lines on the JCP&L power grid in central New Jersey. "It was challenging, especially with all the floods, getting to some areas," Betances said. "Especially the first day or two of the storm response there were a lot of roadways that were blocked, and it was a little tougher getting around to the jobs. As the days passed and water receded roadways started to open up, but the floods really were the biggest challenge." Severe flooding also proved a challenge for crews in the Long Island Residential/Commercial (R/C) services office. Frank Molina, district manager, Long Island office, said every crew in his office were booked for an entire week just responding to emergency storm work calls – removing fallen trees from houses and making properties accessible in the village of Lloyd Harbor on the north shore of Long Island. "That was just the initial cleanup work to allow homeowners to access their properties and bring in insurance assessors, contractors, utilities and other folks to repair the damage the storm caused," Molina said. "We're now providing assessments for secondary work in that community for cleanup work in the landscapes and elsewhere, not necessarily on houses or driveways. There's still quite a bit of work left." 1. Scenes like this large tree down on a house near Covington, Louisiana, captured by Davey Utility services supervisor Mike Wheeler, were repeated throughout the area where Hurricane Ida made landfall in August. 2. Wind speeds over 100 mph snapped electric poles like this one in half as Hurricane Ida swept through Louisiana. 3. This aerial photo of Davey crews staging in Covington, Louisiana, to assist with the Hurricane Ida recovery was captured by Mitchell Durham, supervisor, Wolf Tree, Inc., a Davey company. 4. Powerlines were knocked down and roofs town off by Hurricane Ida throughout Louisiana. HURRICANE IDA

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