Hurricane Francine: Expediting Power Restoration to the Gulf Coast

With 100 mph winds, Hurricane Francine made landfall in Terrebonne Parish in Louisiana as a Category 2 hurricane on Sept. 11. In just three days, Entergy restored power to 90% of customers who experienced outages. 

Entergy's crews, contractors and mutual aid workers were able to restore power swiftly due to ongoing training and enhancements made to its incident response program, thorough planning by utility leaders and teams ahead of the storm’s landfall and new technologies like drones aiding damage assessments. 

In addition, more resilient infrastructure resulting from improvements and upgrades to the grid in recent years also helped expedite the return of electric service to its communities.

“We appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding as we worked tirelessly to restore power,” said Phillip May, Entergy Louisiana president and CEO. “Our team is deeply committed to this work, and we’re grateful for the support our employees and contractors received from the community. Restoring power is what we’re trained to do, and we’ll continue to be there for our customers, always ready to respond to whatever comes our way.”

Overcoming Challenges
To restore power to the hardest-hit areas in southeast Louisiana, the field crews had to overcome challenges like difficult geographic challenges. They also had to devise unique ways to get the lights back on, according to Entergy.

For example, lineworkers wore special boots to climb utility poles without the assistance of machinery when encountering structures in muddy terrain in tight spaces. Crews also used safety ropes to secure climbers, who performed repairs up to 35 ft in the air.

Using Specialized Equipment
Where it was possible to use equipment, Entergy's crews, contractors and mutual-aid workers used every available tool to make repairs in and around marshes, rivers and other hard-to-reach locations. In Terrebonne Parish, storm response workers relied upon a specialized fleet of boats to navigate varying depths of waterways to reconstruct the electrical distribution system. 

For example, the crews used the following during the restoration process:

• Five large air boats rigged with cranes and buckets allow crews to gain access to utility poles in marshes and swamps. An additional large airboat supported the transportation of poles and repair equipment. The airboats were critical to restoration work in Luling, Louisiana, allowing crews to restore power to communities despite areas of high water due to flooding.
• Four marsh buggies capable of traversing land and water assisted with the transportation of personnel and materials within marsh work zones.
• 12 small, single-engine boats were used to transport scouts to assist with damage assessments and work support.
• Flatbed pontoon marsh buggies carry materials like poles and wires to the restoration crews working in the water.
• Flex-track bucket trucks traversed agricultural fields to allow crews access to utility poles in muddy farmland.

Mutual Aid
Beyond Entergy's crews and contractors, the utility also had help from mutual assistance crews i the wake of Hurricane Francine. About 200 Duke Energy Florida crews and contractors arrived in New Orleans to help restore power following Hurricane Francine. The crews included lineworkers, vegetation management, support staff and the mobile command center.

The Duke Energy contingency supported Entergy in Louisiana. Crews were deployed from throughout the state of Florida.

"This is part of our mutual assistance program, which provides us the opportunity to assist neighboring utilities when they need us most," Duke Energy stated." During Florida hurricanes, utilities travel from as far as Canada to help restore power for our customers. We are grateful to return the favor during Hurricane Francine."

To learn more, look for a feature story in our January 2025 issue of T&D World magazine. In the meantime, check out this photo gallery featuring images from Entergy and one of its mutual assistance partners, Duke Energy, of the workers during the restoration. You can also explore Entergy's album on Flickr to see more photos.