Helene and Katrina: A retrospective on restoring power and hope to our communities in the wake of historic hurricanes

Southern Company and its subsidiaries recently recognized the anniversaries of two of the most destructive hurricanes in U.S. history.

One year ago, Hurricane Helene made landfall as a Category 4 hurricane before entering Georgia as a Category 2 storm, bringing 140 mph winds and flooding rains to the state. Nineteen years prior, in 2005, Hurricane Katrina had a devastating impact on the Gulf Coast and remains the worst natural disaster to ever impact South Mississippi.

In both instances, the communities where we work and live suffered unprecedented devastation.

At Southern Company, we are at our best when situations are at their worst. That includes extreme weather, when everyone across the company comes together to restore service in a safe and efficient way, instilling hope for millions of people.

Helene

Hurricane Helene is the most destructive hurricane in Georgia Power’s 140-year history, with 53 counties across the state declared major disaster sites by FEMA. Helene ultimately caused more damage than hurricanes Michael, Irma, and Matthew combined. Quick to react in its wake, Georgia Power restored 1.5 million total customer outages following the storm.

“At Southern Company, our commitment to our communities is unwavering. In the face of Hurricane Helene's unprecedented destruction, we stood together, offering our resources and support to those in need. We will continue to be a pillar of strength and resilience for all those affected,” said Chris Womack, Southern Company chairman, president and CEO.

Georgia Power was ready. The company monitors weather conditions and potential threats to the power grid 24 hours a day and anticipated severe damage from Helene more than a week in advance. The company took steps to prepare early for the storm, including mobilizing additional staff from across the industry and pre-positioning 10,000 restoration workers, equipment and supplies near areas of anticipated impact including extra transformers, poles, cables, wires and other equipment, ensuring a rapid response once weather conditions allowed.

For Helene, the company mobilized the largest restoration operation in its history. More than 20,000 personnel, including every Georgia Power crew and teams from 35+ assisting partner companies – including Alabama Power and Mississippi Power – from across the U.S. and Canada, worked tirelessly to restore power and rebuild critical infrastructure. The company repaired or replaced 11,800+ power poles, 1,500+ miles of power lines, 5,800+ transformers and addressed 3,200+ trees impacting lines. The damage was so profound in some areas that entire sections of the power grid had to be rebuilt from the ground up. More than 1,000 miles of power lines were restored.

Despite the scale of destruction, 95% of impacted customers had power restored within 8 days, with 523,000+ restored within the first 48 hours.

"The worst from Hurricane Helene certainly brought out the best in every Georgia Power employee – starting with our line workers on the front lines of our response to the historic storm, aided and supported by every other employee who participated in restoration and rebuilding in the aftermath and months following," said Kim Greene, chairman, president and CEO of Georgia Power.

Atlanta Gas Light (AGL), with support from teammates from Virginia Natural Gas, safely completed more than 1,000 emergency leak calls in Augusta alone across the final four days of September. That figure represents more calls than AGL received in the first five months of 2024 combined.

Walt Dukes, distribution manager for Georgia Power, reflected on the anniversary of Hurricane Helene and his experience managing restoration efforts in Augusta, on the debut episode of Circuit Cast – the company’s new podcast.

Katrina

Katrina 20: Remembering Our Resilience - YouTube

In August 2005, as Katrina quickly gained strength and began moving toward the northern Gulf Coast, preparations at Mississippi Power and across the Southern Company system intensified. Fuel was purchased, suppliers put on notice and buildings and staging areas were secured. The team knew Katrina was making its way to South Mississippi and encouraged employees and customers to take precautions. On the precipice of Katrina’s landfall, Mississippi Power employees manned their storm stations and hunkered down for what was to come.

The storm’s sustained winds reached 175 mph while creating a 28-foot storm surge that ripped coastal homes and businesses from their foundations. By the time the winds and storm surge finally subsided, 235 Mississippians tragically lost their lives. All 195,000 Mississippi Power customers were without power and many along the Coast were without homes.

While Katrina destroyed homes and livelihoods, it was no match for the resilient spirit that has come to personify Mississippians.

Getting the lights on and keeping them on is what Mississippi Power does best. Our approach to disaster preparation and recovery remains proactive to safely restore electric service to our customers as quickly as possible. This was even more critical after Katrina and remains our plan to this day.

“I am proud to work alongside these resilient teammates who use the lessons learned to deliver the highest level of service and dedication to our neighbors and communities every day, no matter the circumstances,” said Pedro Cherry, chairman, president and CEO of Mississippi Power. “We continue to enhance our capabilities, including storm-hardening initiatives and proactive storm response preparations, to ensure we are in the strongest position possible to serve customers when the next major storm strikes.”

Mississippi Power's 600-truck fleet was expanded to 5,000, operating out of more than 30 sites to respond to Katrina's devastation. The first arrivals were strategically placed so they could report for duty as soon as the winds relented.

As first responders began to clear roads, Mississippi Power employees started to assess the catastrophic damage. Most Mississippi Power employees suffered damage to their homes and nearly 100 lost their homes entirely. But as soon as the winds subsided, and with support from Southern Company Family Services, they put their own needs to the side and reported for duty. Employees had one goal in mind: get the power back on for our customers.

The call for assistance went out to other utilities and Georgia Power and Alabama Power were the first to respond. Other companies from around the continent soon joined. Mississippi Power's 1,200-person force quickly became an army of 12,000. Then-Mississippi Power CEO Anthony Topazi set an aggressive goal and led the Storm Team to restore power in 12 days to all customers who could receive it.

A plan in action:

• Utility workers and equipment came from all over the country and Canada. Each Mississippi Power employee was empowered to make decisions on the spot using their expertise and experience to restore power as safely and quickly as possible.
• The care and feeding of 12,000 workers was an enormous task on its own. It took 250,000 meals. Employees checked in and had laundries wash 93,000 pounds of clothing. People ate, washed up, and slept in tent cities or wherever they could.
• The operation required up to 140,000 gallons of fuel daily along with coordination with government and law enforcement officials to ensure its safe delivery.
• With all landlines and most cellular service destroyed, SouthernLINC Wireless radios, used by Mississippi Power employees, were the only means of communication.
• Surrounded by utter destruction, safety procedures were more important than ever. Despite the adverse conditions, only three minor injuries were reported.

Based on lessons learned from Hurricane Katrina, Mississippi Power constructed a new Operations & Storm Center on higher, safer ground to increase protection of critical functions and better prepare the company to respond when the next storm hits.

It’s unknown if we will ever see another storm like Katrina, but there is one thing we can count on: Mississippi Power and the people of Mississippi will be ready.