The plant was closed in an orderly manner and secured. The employees were
evacuated for security purposes. Keep in
mind that the water was 4 ft deep outside
the plant at this time. Our only method
of transportation was by boat.
We could not immediately locate all
of our employees. Many used the corporate Web site to call other company locations outside the New Orleans area – such
as Texas, Arkansas or Mississippi – to
leave word on their temporary locations.
This led us to revise our emergency plan,
which now includes establishing telephone numbers in Houston, Texas, and
Little Rock, Ark., as well as New Orleans,
so people know where to call on a daily
basis to report their location and contact
numbers.
Wayne Leonard, Entergy’s chief executive officer, stresses safety and wants
every employee to go home in the same
condition he or she arrived at work.
Throughout the storm and restoration
there were constant reminders from him
to work safely even in these trying times.
(See sidebar on p. 23.)
Courtesy Entergy Thermal.
Here you can see the extent of the flooding in the area around the plant a week after Hurricane Katrina.
Elevated walkways that connect University Hospital (two in foreground) and LSU Health Sciences Center
buildings to the Entergy Thermal plant (small square building - left at end of walkway) house district energy
piping and afforded a dry path between buildings on the first return trip.
Our production superintendent, Jeff
Davis, and I did make a return visit to our
everyone saw on TV passes directly in
front of the plant.)
We flew from Baton Rouge to New
Orleans in helicopters with a Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)
representative, a group from Shaw Group
(FEMA contractor) and a representative
Entergy Thermal LLC
New Orleans
Services provided:
Chilled water for cooling; steam and
hot water for space heating, domestic
hot water, and process (sterilization,
reheat for dehumidification, cooking, etc.)
Courtesy Entergy Thermal.
Situated at the edge of downtown New Orleans,
the Entergy Thermal plant sits just blocks from
the Superdome and adjacent to the Interstate- 10
overpass, where thousands waited days to be
rescued. Tulane University Health Sciences Center
occupies the lower left of the photo.
Number of customers:
Five customers for total of 15 buildings totaling 5. 5 million sq ft
Plant capacity:
Chilled water – 32,000 tons at buildout, currently 17,500 tons with
another 4,000 tons in construction;
steam – 120,000 lb/hr
thermal plant Sept. 6, one week after the
storm. (The plant is located two blocks
from the Superdome. The elevated highway filled with stranded people that
Trench ft of piping:
3,300 combined underground and
aboveground in walkways
from Louisiana State University Health
Sciences Center (LSUHSC). The purpose
of the trip was to inspect the LSUHSC
facilities, which are supplied with district cooling by our company, and to
determine their potential for housing
returning workers.
The logistics of the trip took time to
set up. Air space was being tightly controlled by the government. This kept out
sightseeing trips, but more important,
managed the incredible number of helicopters in the air. You could see about a
dozen helicopters transporting people
and supplies at any given time. The repairs
to the levees were still in progress.
Security and health concerns were
another big issue. We were required to
have two security guards and a medic as
part of our 12-person group. These were
not typical security staff, but people with
automatic assault rifles and shotguns. All
people coming back into the city were
required to get tetanus shots. Any cuts,
scrapes, open wounds, etc., were to be
treated immediately by the accompanying
medic. No chances were to be taken, due
to the water being contaminated. Hip
boots, gloves, flashlights, food, water,
cameras and walkie-talkies rounded out
the basic supplies.
We landed on the top of a parking
