Emergency Preparedness - Snohomish PUD
At our meeting September 5th, the featured speaker, Chris Heimgartner, gave a presentation about how the Snohomish County PUD prepares for disasters and how we can prepare as individuals. Heimgartner is the Assistant General Manager of the Snohomish County Public Utility District. The District is the second largest public utility in Washington State and the 12th largest in the United States. The utility serves 2,200 square miles--all of Snohomish County and Camano Island--and includes over 327,000 electrical customers and 19,000 water service customers. There are over 6,300 electric line miles encompassing 306 circuits and 90 substations. 65% of the wiring is overhead which in the long run is 3 to 20 times cheaper to maintain then buried wire.
Heimgartner shared that when a big storm such as winds, floods, snow or ice or other catastrophic event occurs, no utility has the personnel or equipment on hand to restore service on its own. Utilities have mutal aid agreements in place to help one another when these kids of events occur. And, we have experienced these types of events. Our PUD has over 30 line and service crews plus an additional 70 storm-trained flaggers and over 50 trained crew guides to assist mutual aid crews that respond to the service area. PUD also has agreements with electrical construction companies that have equipment and personnel that can aid in restoration efforts.
The American Public Association and the Mutual Aid Working Group have coordinated with utilities across the country to facilitate aid within and across regions. The regions are based on the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) regions. {Ed Note- the Club will have a presentation from a FEMA representative later this month.} This planned coordination has been very beneficial over the years. It really came into play 22 and a half months ago during Superstorm Sandy.
Hurricane Sandy was the deadliest and most destructive hurricane in 2012 and the second-costiest in US history. Over the course of ten days at the end of October last year, at least 286 are known to have died in the seven countries that the the storm passed over. Damage estimates as of March of this year are USD$68 billion. In the United States, the storm affected 24 states including the entire east coast and west across the Appalachian Mountains to Michigan and Wisconsin with particularly sever damage in New Jersey and New York. Its storm surge hit New York City flooding streets, tunnels and subway lines especially on lower Manhattan. Damage estimates in the United States are around USD$63 billion.
Snohomish County PUD sent a dozen people to help restore service. They spent many days there with 5,000 other crews and 1,000 contractors. Effects of the storm will last for many more years. It's good to know that if we ever needed help on the magnitude of Hurricane Sandy, we would see people from across the country.
Thank you to Chris Heimgartner for this very informative presentation.