Page 9 - Mississippi 811 Magazine 2018 Issue 1

Du'v2 seen the ronvoys ui burket trucks headed
in the direction of a major disaster. The trucks
seemingly come from all over the rounrry You've '
got to wander. "Where did they come from? How a e

do they know where to go and when they get there, how do

they know where to start working?” - » »

A pipeline ca uld be buried

when Hurricane lrma made weather history by being the

second category 4 huriirane to hit the united states in the flea r you,

same yzalr the Electrir cooperatives of Mississippi (ECMJ _ . _ V , W _ _
sent more than 350 men and mo burket trucks to assist in ‘ ,, ' l P\‘ : '«ro§:z\o_,‘ ‘pier:
the rebuilding or six (6) diirerent cooperatives in Flurida. 1- "fir t n‘{;"%7;
Thousands of employees from cooperatives arross the _ W ‘ ri-
country ioined the ECM in Flnrida to restore power to the ’ » __ \ -. _ 3
more than e,0oiJ,uoiJ customers who had lost power ‘ V 5
we called Michael callahaii. ECM Ererutive vire l-resident/ .. l
CEO to learn more about how this massive effun was ' / , 3
organized and trarked.

He said, "The 900 cooperatives across the country 7 . ,

which make up the National Rural Electric cooperative

Association (NRECA) have rreated a Mutual Aid Network

to help a region strurk by disaster. Typically, when a stonn

such as lrma strikes, there have been preparations made not

only by the local cooperatives. but by those participating in

«he Miinial Aid Network to be ready to roll should there be

a need."

V V .
I hm tltilll ll.-l \ 0 in
Q0‘ [H [1 “ ll(\l] [ll(\\ i_i‘(,_ The people of Mississippi depend
1 )i HI I I‘ III W _l H\'1l'l \H\ on Williams pipelines to help meet
r I ( ‘ . ( ‘ ( their energy needs. That's why we're
' E I ‘ i x
IIUIII llmlll ll\(‘ (1 l\\ 10 de endn one cavatorsto call811
‘* E i i i i l
I‘ 0‘ “I y befoied n anwnerenlhevcnt
\ . .
‘ H ( ‘ ' of our pipelines.

when lrma struck Florida, Cooperatives fmm several If YOU SNOU‘ d happen 10 accidemally

states including Mississippi. were on their way to assist strike a pipeline, it is important that

the distressed cooperatives imparted by the hurrirane. . . .
Michael said, ”All of the employees mvolved mworking the you Coma“ “S 'mmed'a'e‘V' Eve” mmor
disasters are volunteers They don’l}lav2 to go. butwheii damage could result in a future leak if

they go”, typirally they are there fmm about iive days to two n at promptly repaired

weeks.

He continued, "Perhaps one ui «he most interesting
things about the rebuilding ettorts arross the Mutual Aid ca" 8“ Before You mg! "is The Law
Network is the sottware used tor tracking the worktorre and

equipment. several years ago, it was managed on paper. _ _

Ledgers. tablets and whatever was available and you can For more mformaflon, contact us
imagine how difficult it could be to keep track of manhours

and equipment sent to an area we knew there needed at our non-emergency number:

to be a more eiiirient way to manage and organize the

escort After looking at third party proposals to develop the 1 |
soitware. ECM derided to build the software in house "

The sottware developed by the ECM gave them the /2

ability to track employees. equipment sent, where speciric . .k

employees were headed and the cooperatives receiving Williams.

help knew who was in their area. And the assisring _(4/Z

*"*P1‘=vm~" mm‘ and devflfium Wm “W ~m"P*<‘ fl" LaEmsVit:v1llllmis(.wvpinlss yr Nl HEM:
verirication

°°N’W”“’ ‘W “GE 3 2013 Issue 1 MlS§l§§lDD1 E11 . 7