When you live and work on a relatively flat island, like tropical Grand Cayman, the largest of the three Cayman Islands located in the Caribbean Sea, weather is always a factor. No matter how prepared you are, the foreboding threat of hurricanes is very real during the hurricane season, which runs from June through November.

In the fall of 2004, the transmission and distribution (T&D) system on Grand Cayman was put to the ultimate test by an unwelcome visitor called “Ivan the Terrible,” a Category 5 storm. Ivan produced winds of more than 160 mph, with higher gusts reportedly over 200 mph. Hurricane Ivan blew into Grand Cayman on Saturday, September 11, and stayed in town for the next two days, wreaking a trail of destruction that left islanders in wonderment as to how they survived what has now been termed the worst storm ever to hit the Cayman Islands. Fortunately, only two deaths were recorded as a result of the storm.

One would expect a storm of this magnitude to cause a great amount of damage. But many years ago, the island's electric utility, Caribbean Utilities Co. Ltd. (CUC) recognized the need to implement hurricane-hardening planning and preparation.

Poles Still Standing

A key aspect in building for the threat of hurricanes included CUC's stringent standards requiring the “hardening” of its infrastructure to sustain high winds and flooding prior to the storm. Management consulting and engineering firm R.W. Beck (Nashville, Tennessee) has been designing overhead transmission power lines and buildings for CUC to withstand 150-mph winds with gusts up to 200 mph and a 10-ft storm surge. Hurricane-hardening, which also includes concrete poles installed to withstand 115 mph winds and pad-mounted transformers that are 5 ft above flood planes, are constructed by MasTec Inc. (Coral Gables, Florida).

Hurricane Ivan put the robust system to the test, and the results were impressive. Only six of 226 concrete poles had to be replaced after the storm, and it was later determined that five of these were downed by a tornado. Stringent guying standards for design and building also resulted in significant storm survival. Only 388 of the company's 12,306 wooden poles were destroyed during the storm.

Restoration Strategy

There was still extensive damage and an urgent need to restore power to customers. Fortunately, CUC had a hurricane response plan that had been honed and drilled over the past eight years. Ivan was the first time that the new plan was put into action. Teams immediately hit the ground running with the restoration process, and the company reaped dividends from these preparedness efforts. Immediately following the storm, the company, which has an installed capacity of 123 MW, 193 employees and more than 21,000 customers, undertook a damage assessment of its infrastructure to develop a restoration timeline. It was determined that 90 days was a reasonable recovery period.

In Control

The committee responsible for coordinating the restoration effort met daily to input the accomplishments of all the work crews and to identify changes in the restoration work scheduling. The committee coordinated activities with governmental agencies and other utilities as various managers attended daily or weekly meetings with the Cayman Islands National Recovery Committee and other subcommittees.

Controlling the overall logistics may have been one of the biggest challenges. The committee had to provide housing, food and water, vehicles, tools and materials for the relief workforce brought onto the island. As the majority of restoration materials were shipped from the United States, an overseas coordinator had to be appointed to handle the enormous task of material acquisition and shipping coordination. This proved to be the right decision as normal communications off the island in the first couple of weeks was either not available or unreliable. Satellite telephone communications was limited as well.

CUC used its computer-based software program, MS Project, which contains a complete listing of all streets to coordinate construction and reconnection priorities in addition to work schedules, crew assignments and the recording of the restoration process. This data was used to forecast completion times and to update the media who, in the initial phases of the restoration effort, would disseminate information to customers on the status of the work in their respective zones.

In the latter stages of the restoration, this information also was provided by the company's customer service department, which used a hotline and published a restoration map with zones and proposed completion dates.

Sourcing Abroad

A crucial element of the preparedness plan included the development of strategic alliances with overseas companies to supply technical support, labor and key material items such as transformers, poles, hardware and conductor. These companies are put on notice once a hurricane threat is imminent and are called on to respond after the passing of the hurricane.

But, CUC found it difficult to source materials from the United States because there had been multiple hurricane strikes to Florida and other islands in the Caribbean. To source conductor, for example, the company identified a supplier from Ecuador and had to charter four 727s to bring the wire to the island. It was also necessary to charter three cargo ships and two more aircraft to bring bucket trucks and other essential supplies from Belize and the United States as regular commercial carriers could not accommodate the need for prompt delivery.

It was also critical for the CUC team to have the assistance of outside manpower to ensure that service was restored as quickly as possible. The company was fortunate to be able to call on its largest shareholder, Fortis Inc. (St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada), who provided 140 workers, and line contractor MasTec North America Inc. (Coral Gables, Florida), who sent an additional 23 workers to supplement the on-island crew of six workers, as well as Caribbean Electric Utility Services Corp. (CARILEC; Gros Islet, Saint Lucia), the regional utility association, who deployed three emergency teams totaling 19 workers from Barbados, Bermuda and the Turks and Caicos Islands. The company's initial goal was to get essential services such as the airport, hospital and the financial district up and running. This was achieved within five days.

Other priorities included the start up of the power plant, rebuilding of main lines required for restoration of power to essential services and eventually for all customer reconnections, installation of street lighting and rebuilding of the fibre-optic communications network.

Ivan left CUC with the only fuel pump that was operational immediately following the storm. The CUC storm team was charged with the fueling of vehicles involved in the restoration effort as well as for outside organizations, such as the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, the Fire Service and the island's main telecommunications provider, Cable & Wireless.

Human Perspective

One of the many challenges was taking care of workers. Peter A. Thomson, CUC's president and CEO, said that it was critical to ensure the well being of everyone involved in the restoration effort: CUC employees, the restoration team and the relief workers who came from the United States, Canada, the Caribbean and Europe. Initially, it was necessary to coordinate the in-house preparation of more than 800 meals per day.

“Our company's employees and overseas support teams went above and beyond the call of duty, continuously working 12-hour days for weeks at a time. Administrative and other temporary support personnel assumed new roles and responsibilities to help in the restoration effort. Many customers came forward and assisted the company, while all customers were understanding and patient as they observed our crews working to restore their service,” remarked Thomson.

Flexibility Was Key

The committee had to be ready to respond to the unexpected. When regularly scheduled cargo vessels were unable to accommodate the company's requirements for the shipment of materials, CUC chartered private planes and ships to ensure completion of the restoration within the 90-day target.

Once it was determined that 23 cars and small trucks were destroyed from saltwater flooding, the company immediately secured rental agreements with local companies to provide temporary replacements. Additional support was needed in some departments, and CUC brought in workers from other local businesses.

The company's fixed-line telephone service and radio system was not operational, and it was necessary to use cellular and satellite telephones for communications. There was no water available from the water companies, so CUC had to temporarily use its own emergency water supplies from two reservoirs.

Through the combined effort, services were restored to all customers whose premises were approved for reconnection by November 30. As of January 2005, approximately 4000 of CUC's pre-Ivan customer base of 21,600 were still not connected, as their premises required repairs or rebuilding. Although the restoration effort, in terms of customer connections, is now significantly completed, there is still much work to be done to rebuild the infrastructure.

A Stronger Nation

Had it not been for CUC's foresight to implement hurricane-hardening planning and preparation, the utility may well have suffered a similar fate as those in neighboring islands, which are still trying to recover from Ivan's aftermath. The power is now flowing across Grand Cayman, but this is really the end of the beginning for CUC as there is still work to be done to restore the integrity and reliability of the system. The utility will continue its standards of designing and building its power system to withstand hurricanes such as Ivan to ensure reliability to its customers. Richard Hew, CUC's executive vice president and COO, said, “The company and the country will be stronger because of the enthusiastic spirit of the CUC team and the people of Grand Cayman to rebuild their island. Restoring electrical service to Grand Cayman was a huge task, and we did it.”

J. Lee Tinney is the vice president of Transmission and Distribution (T&D) for Caribbean Utilities Co. Ltd. (CUC), the sole provider or electricity on Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. His career in the electric utility industry spans 38 years, 32 of which were in engineering and operations with two large U.S. utilities. A registered professional engineer in the United States, he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from Mississippi State University. He has been with CUC for eight years and also serves as president of DataLink Ltd., a wholly owned telecommunication subsidiary of CUC. He is an active member of the Cayman Society of Architects, Surveyors and Engineers.
Ltinney@cuc.ky