Storm Chasers

Fluffy white clouds dotted a deep blue Texas morning sky on July 9 as a seven-man crew of United linemen met in the Burleson office’s back lot and began gathering the tools and equipment they’d need before starting their  230-mile trip southeast to Sam Houston Electric Cooperative in Livingston.

While weather was similar at their destination, the conditions were markedly different. Only 24 hours before, Hurricane Beryl had crashed through the cooperative’s service territory, leaving, at its worst point, 90 percent of the 91,500 members without power and a tangled mess of wires, trees and broken poles in its wake.

Beryl had come ashore in Texas as a Category 1 hurricane in the early morning hours of July 8. The deadly, record-breaking storm caused severe flooding and wind damage, knocking out power for nearly 3 million homes and businesses in the Lone Star State.

Colin Brignola, an apprentice II lineman from Granbury, said he had only just proposed to his girlfriend the day before leaving for Sam Houston. Despite that, he left to participate in the first restoration of his career.

“I signed up because being a part of a co-op is about helping other people,” he said. “I’m excited to get down there and help out as best as I can. I’m nervous, but I’m excited, too. This is my first one, and hopefully, it’ll make me better for my next and just at my job in general.”

This was also the first storm restoration for Logan Oberman, an apprentice I from United’s office at Possum Kingdom Lake.

“I like helping out others that are in need,” he said. “I feel like it’s our duty. I’ve volunteered almost every opportunity that I can get, but this is the first time that I’ve been selected since I’ve been here. I’m just excited to go. And I feel like it’s a good learning opportunity for me as an apprentice.”

Payden Henderson is a line crew chief in Granbury. He said he’s volunteered for two other hurricane restorations in the past, and he knew what the crew was up against to restore Sam Houston members.

“I’ve heard it’s a disaster,” Henderson said. “From what I’ve heard and seen in some videos, it just doesn’t look good. Hurricane restorations differ from other restorations due to the water aspect. Some areas you have to access with boats or, you know, track machines compared to just getting a bucket truck over there to do it. But I feel like we’re as prepared as we can be.”

Despite the long hours and hot work that lay ahead, Henderson said he looked forward to arriving and beginning the work.

“The best part—my favorite part, I’d say—is just going down there seeing the people and the appreciation that they have for us,” he said. “That aspect of it is really cool. The worst part is probably the first time that your feet get wet at the beginning of the day. After that point, you just kind of get used to it.”

Beryl’s damage to Sam Houston Electric Cooperative’s infrastructure was the worst that Rachel Hawkins had seen in the 10 years she’s worked at the co-op. Hurricanes are a part of the weather landscape for the territory, which includes areas near Conroe and The Woodlands just north of Houston. Reports prior to Beryl’s arrival indicated Sam Houston may be grazed by the storm. What actually happened, she said, was far worse.  

“That was the longest morning ever,” she said. “It was a weird day. We watched it make landfall in the early morning hours—4 a.m., somewhere in there. Unfortunately, the eye of the hurricane, as the day progressed, went right along the western side of our service area. Our entire service area was impacted by what they call the ‘dirty’ side of the hurricane—the top-right quadrant, which is the strongest storms. It devastated our territory.”

At the peak, more than 81,500 meters were offline. While every county and zip code experienced damage, Beryl devastated the western half of the service area, which also is more densely populated. Once the storm passed and winds died down to safe levels, crews began restoring members in the southeast quadrant of the territory, getting power to about 6,000 people by the end of Monday.

While some mutual aid and contractor crews had been staged across the service territory, it became clear more help was needed, she said. And quickly. Sam Houston continued sourcing additional restoration crews.

“We had wonderful help from all over,” she said. “Between vegetation management, tree clearing and line technicians, we had 1,030 individuals helping our system. Our normal outside workforce of lineman is 53.”

Crews from eight Texas cooperatives and one from Arkansas responded to begin restoration work. Teams removed about 5,000 trees that fell outside the co-op’s easement onto electrical infrastructure. Restoration crews also replaced 301 broken poles, 505 broken crossarms, replaced 168 transformers and used 14,730 splices to put lines back together. Though storms continued plaguing the system afterward, Sam Houston members affected by Beryl were restored by the end of July 14, six days after Beryl’s arrival.

“We would have been in dire straits without our cooperative mutual aid,” she said. “We are incredibly thankful for the cooperative network. I am a firm believer in the cooperative difference and the cooperative advantage that we offer our members.”

After returning, Henderson said United crews worked an area damaged by debris and many trees that had fallen, tearing line down with them.

“We were glad to get home, but they really needed the help,” he said. “Everyone was pretty glad to see us. We met a lot of different people. The CEO actually came out to our camp and met with us. He was a super nice guy. Everybody was just about as grateful as they could be. They were glad that we stayed and helped. Our bird dog that we worked with—Bubba—was fantastic, he was a 40-year lineman, and he had all kinds of stories. We learned different ways that they do stuff, and it was a good learning experience for sure. When you get done with it, you say, ‘Man I’m so happy I did that. I’m glad I got to see what I saw and get to work with a different group of guys.’”

Crew leaders, or “bird dogs” are cooperative employees or retirees that led the crews from other areas and helped them navigate a new territory.

Despite getting his feet soaked immediately after leaving the truck, Brignola said he was glad that he went on his first restoration.

“It helped me look at things in a different way professionally,” he said. “Learning from different lineman, I learned there is more than just one way to do things. There are multiple ways to do a certain task, and you’ve got to figure out the best way. I learned that some more on this trip.”