By David Vitrano

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – While it may or may not be true that everything one needs to know one learns in kindergarten, apparently the Boy Scout motto, “always be prepared,” can carry one a long way during hurricane season.

“Preparation is the key to success,” said Willie Wilson, an engineer with Entergy who helped give a presentation to River Region Chamber of Commerce members Wednesday on the power company’s emergency plan.

Wilson explained the steps Entergy takes when there is a hurricane threatening the region. They range from preparation to pre-landfall, landfall and post-landfall to restoration.

He went on to detail how the company prioritizes outages, saying facilities that handle emergency operations get first attention.

“In theory, there is actually no beginning and no end,” he said, meaning storm preparation is something continually being updated and refined.

“We don’t want a plan that’s inconsistent with what’s going on around us,” said Wilson.

He also tried to explain why some customers get their power restored so much sooner than others in the aftermath of a storm. Besides working from a prioritized list, other protocols must be followed when dealing with power lines.

“In order to work on a line, we have to get clearance,” he said. “It’s a very unforgiving environment.”

And because of the unforgiving nature of the environment, he advised those in attendance to be wary when clearing debris after a storm just in case there are downed power lines nearby.

He advised that patience may be one’s biggest strength when waiting for power to be restored because the regional Entergy office, which covers parts of Ascension, St. John the Baptist, St. James and St. Charles parishes, handles 660 miles of power lines and 33,000 customers.

Before Wilson began his portion of the presentation, Sheila Butler, Entergy customer service manager, explained some of the steps one can take on an individual level when preparing for a storm.

She stressed the importance of having an evacuation plan as well as necessary documents before a storm threatens. She went on to explain steps one can take to make their property as storm-ready as possible including turning refrigerators and freezers to their coldest settings and keeping one’s trees trimmed and yard free of debris or anything that could become airborne.

St. John Parish President Natalie Robottom, who attended the session, commented, “This is so applicable to our plan.”

She commended Entergy for the thoroughness of their planning. “We need to be good at it, too,” she said.

For more information visit www.entergy.com/