HURRICANE SANDY One Year Later A LOOK BACK AT ATLANTIC CITY ELECTRIC S STORM RESTORATION EFFORTS

Transcription

1 HURRICANE SANDY One Year Later A LOOK BACK AT ATLANTIC CITY ELECTRIC S STORM RESTORATION EFFORTS OCTOBER 2013

2 SANDY STRIKES Hurricane Sandy made landfall bringing maximum sustained winds of 80 mph and severe flooding. There was extensive damage to homes, businesses and property. At the height of the storm, we had approximately 220,000 customers without power. Although all homes and businesses that could accept power were restored within about a week, the work hasn t stopped. Since last year, we have worked every day to support state-wide recovery efforts in the hardest hit communities we serve.

3 Atlantic City Extensive flooding throughout Atlantic City caused a key underground system that serves approximately 400 business customers and a residential neighborhood to shut down the first time in our history that power was interrupted on the entire network. Teams replaced damaged underground transformers and two miles of underground cable.

4 Atlantic City Power was restored to the network in five days, but work continued into the start of the 2013 summer season to ensure its resiliency against future storms and flooding. These improvements will help provide customers with a more reliable system and will allow crews to switch lines faster during outages and reduce the amount of affected customers.

5 Brigantine After storm surges unearthed underground wires and transformers, the areas were retrenched and the infrastructure that had washed away, replaced. The Brigantine network had to be rebuilt and reburied. Repairs were completed in Brigantine about two weeks after the storm.

6 Long Beach Island LBI experienced widespread service interruptions. Homes were knocked from their foundations and many were washed away completely. We coordinated efforts with the local gas company to ensure gas lines were repaired before power was restored.

7 Long Beach Island - Holgate Holgate, at the southern tip of LBI, suffered a great deal of devastation. Many structures still stand empty today.

8 Beach Haven West Many homes in this community had to be manually disconnected from the overhead system. Crews went from home to home to cut the wires. Police and fire officials took control of the area due to gas, electric and fire hazards. Restoration was done in zones using spray paint and stickers to denote levels of destruction. Repaired areas could not be re-energized until local inspectors deemed each street safe to restore.

9 Tuckerton Homes were destroyed and flood waters knocked buildings from their foundations. Many homes that weren t destroyed were declared uninhabitable by local officials. Boats were thrown from marinas onto local streets. As of August 2013, more than 100 homes were still not able to safely receive electric service.

10 BY THE NUMBERS Power restoration began in full force on October 31. All customers who were able to safely receive electrical service were restored on November 6. We replaced 220 transformers, 190 utility poles and almost 300,000 feet of wire. In all, more than 2,800 employees, contractors and restoration crews were on the ground helping to support the effort. Nearly 1,300 internal and contract line and underground personnel Approximately 540 tree removal personnel Approximately 350 customer call representatives to answer customer calls Approximately 250 assessors to identify storm damage Nearly 460 support personnel who worked on special storm response roles

11 ADDITIONAL INFORMATION Our website is full of additional information about how we prepare for and respond to emergencies. It also includes helpful information to help you prepare for storms. Community Focus Newsletters: atlanticcityelectric.com/welcome/community/focus/ 2012 Community Involvement Report: atlanticcityelectric.com/welcome/community/involvement/ Storm Preparation and Safety Tips and Handbook: atlanticcityelectric.com/home/emergency/ Download our Mobile App: atlanticcityelectric.com/home/emergency/ mobileapp.aspx Like us on Facebook: facebook.com/atlanticcityelectric Follow us on Twitter: twitter.com/acelecconnect

12 THANK YOU! We would like to thank everyone our crews and employees, the crews mobilized from other utilities and state and local emergency management officials who worked around-the-clock to restore power and clean up storm damage. We would like to thank our customers for the support they showed our crews during this challenging time. And we d like to thank the crews who are still out there working to make our system stronger and more resilient for the future.