EREC Sends Line Crews, Bunk Trailers And Showers To Help With Louisiana Power Restoration

September 1, 2021

Line crews from Escambia River Electric Cooperative are assisting a fellow cooperative with power restoration following Hurricane Ida.

After landfall of the Category 4 hurricane, there were 84,896 DEMCO customers without power in the Greenwell Springs, Louisiana area.

“Following any storm, our first priority is to safeguard our cooperative and make sure our members have power,” said EREC CEO Ryan Campbell. “As soon as we know our system is intact, then our crews are ready to go help others who were impacted by the storm.”

EREC has also sent five bunk trailers and a shower trailer to Washington — St. Tammany Electric Cooperative in Mandeville, Louisiana, to house cooperative line crews working to restore power there.

One of the biggest challenges facing electric utilities during power restoration after disasters such as hurricanes is lodging. It is difficult to find housing for hundreds or even thousands of workers in an area whose infrastructure has been devastated. EREC acquired trailers and renovated them into bunk housing for this purpose.

EREC’s five bunk trailers will sleep 33 people each, and the shower trailer has 10 showers and sinks. The trailers are self-contained, each equipped with its own generator.

“Rebuilding communities following a storm of this intensity will take time, but we want to do whatever we can to help speed the process,” said Campbell.

Pictured: EREC line crew members Cody Lewis, Philip Gandy, Matthew Reynolds, Thomas Nall and Gary McCaskill. Photo for NorthEscambia.com, click to enlarge.

Comments

4 Responses to “EREC Sends Line Crews, Bunk Trailers And Showers To Help With Louisiana Power Restoration”

  1. Rat on September 4th, 2021 7:47 pm

    God bless. Keep safe.
    And watch out for coon’s.

  2. James Robinson on September 2nd, 2021 10:52 am

    Good idea, but this should be a given. I want to let all the lineman, SAR, firefighters, law enforcement, Cajun Navy volunteers, hell anybody that goes and helps a big thanks from everyone (including myself) . Thanks for your sacrifice, thanks for your dedication, thanks for your willingness to help people, to save people, to restore order and for starting the process of restoring the infastructure everyone relies upon. Thank you to each and every one of you.

  3. Mike J. on September 1st, 2021 9:33 am

    Great work! Thank you for helping the smaller areas who don’t get the attention as much as the larger cities.

  4. Josh Jones on September 1st, 2021 8:13 am

    Thanks to these crews assisting in restoring power to the folks in Louisiana!