When a major storm like Hurricane Dennis hits an electric utility, small armies of restoration crews begin caravanning to the region, some even before the storm lands. They are well organized and prepared to do whatever it takes to restore power to customers in the area. Local electric utilities' highly trained storm-response teams begin setting up staging areas, communications networks and temporary camps to feed and house the thousands of extra workers arriving from all corners of the continent. But all of the extra manpower and preparation would be a wasted effort if another critical link was not being simultaneously put in place: provisioning of the enormous amounts of supplies and materials needed to support the repair and replacement of the damaged facilities.

Bracing for a Storm

Case in point. On the Friday, July 8, 2005, before Hurricane Dennis' landfall in the United States, Gulf Power (Pensacola, Florida), a division of Southern Company, was already preparing for the eventual relamping of public lighting along roads and highways. Dennis tore through the Florida panhandle, making landfall near Pensacola at 3:25 p.m. on Sunday afternoon. The Category 3 hurricane brought 120-mph winds and drenching rains in a 100-mile radius of the electric utility's service territory. Flooding and outages were reported as far away as Tallahassee, Florida, as the storm moved northward into Alabama, served by another Southern Company subsidiary, Alabama Power.

To meet the urgent demand for replacement materials, St. Louis-based utility supply specialist Graybar's Pensacola branch tapped into its nationwide inventory of electrical and telecommunications products to ship approximately 6000 lamps into Pensacola via Southeast Freight Lines. The trucking company opened its docks on Saturday for Graybar to pick up the lamps and store them at the Pensacola branch for immediate disbursement after the hurricane. On Monday morning, Graybar Pensacola delivered lamps to the utility's staging areas, where more than 5000 crewmembers were assembling to start relamping the area without delay.

Fortunately for residents of Gulf Power and Pensacola, Dennis was not nearly as devastating as Hurricane Ivan was 10 months prior. Ivan was one of the infamous four hurricanes that struck Florida in 2004. For 44 days, spanning August and September, not a day passed without Floridians watching a storm alert, waiting and bracing for its arrival, or trying to recover after it made landfall. Storm damage was estimated at $42 billion. Lives were interrupted and people — including linemen and construction contractors — made major sacrifices. But the quick response and on-time delivery of equipment and supplies highlights some of the lessons Florida learned from the 2004 hurricane season — the most active one in the Atlantic-Caribbean region's history.

Supply-Chain Emergency Management

After the storms of 2004 passed, thousands in Florida faced the supreme challenge of how to recover and rebuild. Homes and businesses were either destroyed or rendered unusable. Thousands went without electrical power for weeks. Roads were either destroyed or impassable. Communications was marginal at best. The logistical challenges were huge.

Like Dennis, only on a grander scale, thousands of restore crews mobilized to Florida. Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL; Juno Beach, Florida), like a bull's eye on the hurricanes' radar screen, set up command centers and coordinated the tens of thousands of crews and contractors who came from all over North America to help restore power and normalcy. As with Dennis, Graybar sent supply-chain management emergency services teams to its Florida branches. All employees were put on alert, and these branches became hubs for securing, inventorying and delivering equipment, safety gear and materials needed to support the working crews in the restoration areas.

Reconstruction Forecasting

FPL generates and distributes electricity to more than 4 million customers in Florida. As a result of the record-breaking 2004 hurricane season, the utility was faced with repeated nightmares of damages and outages throughout its coverage area:

• Hurricane Charley: August 13

  Landfall: Punta Gorda, Florida; 874,000 customers were without power.

• Hurricane Frances: September 5

  Landfall: Stuart, Florida; 2.8 million customers were without power.

• Hurricane Jeanne: September 25

  Landfall: Stuart; 1.7 million customers were without power.

Like many utilities, FPL's preparations in advance of the predicted storms were exhaustive. A material's sourcing team headed up by Walt Campbell studied the storms and charted landfall projections. This was invaluable because it helped FPL's service centers decide how to prepare, where to stage and even what equipment in the systems were likely to need reconstruction. Additional materials and supplies were strategically placed in the field in advance of the potential road and bridge outages. When crews were put on storm alert, so were distributors and manufacturers, well in advance of the storm's arrival.

Even though thorough preparations were firmly in place, the unpredictable path of the hurricane's damage still wreaked havoc on FPL's service area and communications network. This only redoubled the utility's determination to restore power and get customers back on-line.

At the first sign of the storms, FPL linked up with Graybar's Riviera Beach branch. Supply chain contacts were verified and emergency phone numbers were exchanged.

In the aftermath of the relentless storm activity, inordinate amounts of material were needed so storage became an issue. Graybar's 46,000-sq-ft warehouse provided secure storage for approximately 300 pallets of material for FPL. Having supplies and materials just 3 miles away saved the utility valuable hours of replenishment time and miles of travel.

Most of Graybar's Riviera branch worked 14-hour days for more than 45 days straight to keep FPL's teams moving and properly supplied. Emergency procedures included expediting and the sourcing of materials, tracking orders and setting up special deliveries. These efforts paid off in sourcing and delivering shipments of more than 2000 line items during the 45-day period. Over 180 truckloads of anchors, cable, hardware and linemen's protective gear were delivered to FPL's restoration crews and contractors.

FEMA After Charley

Another recovery effort that is activated when a major storm hits a region is the federal relief effort. The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is in charge of processing storm victims' relief applications and getting the federal support dollars to those who need immediate assistance. FEMA is usually on-site before a storm hits, setting up a command center in the area. FEMA's job is an intensive process of record keeping that is ideally an online, computer-based operation. And it requires electricity.

On Wednesday, August 11, as Tropical Storm Charley was turning into Hurricane Charley in Central Florida, Tampa-based Mission Critical Systems (MCS) received an emergency call from a FEMA advanced preparation team who was already on the ground in Central Florida. A vacant supermarket building was designated to be FEMA's command center during the storm. It had no electric outlets, Internet connectivity or cabling for a computer network. An 80-plus-member relief team was expected to arrive within 24 hours.

FEMA asked MCS if it could provide the hardware and wiring needed to get the vacant supermarket building online. FEMA needed two separate 40-user networks with wireless capabilities, as well as assistance in the installation setup and the maintenance of the system. And FEMA needed it up and running by the following afternoon.

However, the closest FEMA-compatibility computer equipment was in California. FEMA knew that Graybar had just opened a new branch in the Punta Gorda area and was in emergency-response mode providing support for electric utility crews and other contractors involved in emergency-recovery efforts in Central Florida. The potentially chaotic circumstances included nearly inaccessible roads, downed power lines and a relentless storm that was still in progress. Graybar responded quickly accessing its national supply-chain network, and the hardware order was expedited.

Setting up the network in the supermarket building for the FEMA disaster command center also required wiring the building for electric outlets and premise cabling to establish a local area network for the disaster team's computers, which were arriving the next day. Graybar's Punta Gorda branch, 10 minutes away, pulled the wire and materials orders that afternoon. MCS's cabling crews were able to transport the equipment to the FEMA facility by 9 a.m. on Thursday. Supplies were unboxed and assembled, and the network and lighting of the command center was up and running when the FEMA staff arrived Thursday afternoon. A command center was literally built in a day in the middle of a storm with delivery services nearly unavailable.

When You Need It

Hurricanes Charley and Ivan in 2004 and Dennis this past July highlight the importance of getting power to customers, be they utility customers or public agencies. Utility crews, contractors and the suppliers who keep them stocked realize the importance of this mission. As one homeowner in the Panhandle said after Dennis, “They were determined to make roads where there weren't any.” And one of the important keys to the success of restoration efforts like these is having what you need when you need it.

Paul Alexander has more than 20 years of experience in the electric utility industry, working in various positions with an investor-owned electric utility before transitioning to distribution. He has worked at Graybar for seven years, first as a sales manager for Florida electric utilities, then in various other sales and management positions. Currently, he is responsible for electric utility corporate accounts in the Southeastern United States. paul.alexander@gbe.com

Examples of Supply-Chain Deployment and Emergency Services

• Provided FPL with “storm stock,” or the staging of necessary supplies that were set aside to help with severe storm or hurricane recovery.

• Screened supply chain's nationwide network of more than 250 distribution facilities for electric utility materials that could be delivered on a priority basis.

• Posted and updated the priority material list on the utility's internal Web portal, allowing branch employees at the affected locations immediate access to the inventory required.

• Provided generators for backup electrical power at key distribution center locations that would likely provide the best access to contractors seeking immediate supply deliveries during storm recovery.

• Executed branch personnel and on-call assignment checks at all locations affected by the storms in order to make sure branches were up and running as quickly as possible following any severe storms.

• Contacted upstream suppliers to have priority shipments on standby.

• Organized other branches to be ready for transfer to key locations around the state.