EM - ESB Storm Special - (Page Cover1)
ESB workers
go the extra mile
during storm
February 2014 www.esb.ie/em
STORM SPECIAL
CUSTOMER LETTERS
Yesterday two crews from ESB
Networks came to our home to
reconnect us. On my own behalf
and my husband's I would like
to say a most sincere thank you.
The crew from Finglas showed
us such kindness, concern
and also demonstrated skill in
their work. Thank you and we
hope that these crews will get
acknowledgement as it is so
deserved.
Christine and Ted Cronin,
Co. Waterford.
The west Cork heroes from ESB Networks Kanturk. Pictured (l-r): Patrick Fleming, poling contractor; Tommy Murphy, ESB Networks Kanturk; Ger Healy, ESB Networks Kanturk; Brendan O'Donoghue, poling contractor
and Dermot Conway, NIE. Photo: Neil Warner.
WAS DARWIN THE STORM
OF THE CENTURY?
8 Virgil Porter, Divisional Manager Mid West, asks whether the recent storm that wreaked
havoc in February of this year was the worst to hit Irish coasts since the new millenium began.
"WELL I CERTAINLY hope so! I'm
pretty sure the staff who worked
around the clock to restore supply
and the customers who were without
power for days are also hoping we
never see a storm like this again in
our lifetimes.
The storm hit on Wednesday,
February 12th. We had an amber
warning the night before. Given the
steady flow of bad weather since
before Christmas, an amber alert was
nothing new and nothing to get overly
concerned about. I was with Denis
Cambridge, the South Divisional
Manager, at a meeting in Portlaoise
on the Wednesday morning. That
morning, the alert changed from
orange to red; now we were concerned.
Within two hours the storm hit. South
West Division was the first to see the
impact. The numbers of customers out
was rocketing. Mid West seemed to be
okay at first and then it hit us too. I
couldn't believe the rate at which the
numbers of customers out was rising.
Needless to say, we moved out of
Portlaoise and back to our bases. I
declared a divisional emergency in the
Mid West and requested all resources
to be made available to deal with the
damage in line with our divisional
emergency plans.
The number of customers without
power was continuing to rise at an
enormous rate. At 10.30am, the
number of customers out was 1,468
and by 3.30pm it was 110,000.
This represented a quarter of all
the customers in the Mid West.
Customer numbers out doesn't tell
the full story. We always need to
know the number of faults because it
is this number that demonstrates the
scale of what we are dealing with.
At the worst point, with 110,000
customers without power, we had
3,600 faults on the local MV and LV
system. To put this in context, at the
worst point of the Christmas storms
on December 26th, we had 600
faults on the system in Mid West
alone and that took over two days
to clear with the help of staff from
around the country. I never thought
I would ever see that scale of
damage, nor did the supervisors and
staff who had dealt with many more
storms than I had. By Wednesday
afternoon, we knew it... this one
was massive!" n
Our eldest boy is profoundly
mentally and physically
handicapped, and all he has in
his little life are his comforts - the
comforts we try to provide for
him, in his own home. All of the
equipment we rely on to keep
him comfortable is powered by
electricity, and that was lost to
him.
From the moment we contacted
ESB, they could not have been
more helpful. You have no idea
how much your efforts meant to
us and him. Thanks to the guys
and girls that work for ESB.
John O'Connell,
Co. Limerick
(published in Irish Independent)
Kate and I would like to thank
all the people involved who
worked so hard to keep supplies
going and to restore them when
the lines were down. It really was
a great effort on the part of the
men and women who worked so
hard to keep the services going in
what were very severe conditions
indeed. We had an outage but it
was great to wake up and find
everything restored.
Kate Byrne,
Co. Dublin
http://www.esb.ie/em
Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of EM - ESB Storm Special
EM - ESB Storm Special
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20150203
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20151201
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20141011
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20140809
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20140607
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20140405
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_stormspecial
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_esbenergy
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20140203
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20141201
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20131011
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20130809
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20130607
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20130405
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20130203
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20131201
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20121011
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20120809
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20120607
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20120405
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20120203
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20111201
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/sa_2011
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20111011
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20110809
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20110607
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20110405
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20110203
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20101201
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20101011
http://europe.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20100809
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxteu/zahra/em_20100607
https://www.nxtbookmedia.com