You may have noticed that we haven’t posted any new content recently. Don’t worry, we’re still alright, and no we didn’t just hit a random lazy streak. We were actually temporarily misplaced by Hurricane Ida, and we’ve been so busy just trying to keep our lives somewhat together. We are all good and are now back home (with power and internet!), but it’s been a crazy couple of weeks.
Now that we’re back into more of our typical rhythm, I wanted to look back on my particular experience during the storm (Kimberly and I actually have much different stories).
When the news of the hurricane started coming up, I was about to start my rotation for the Emergency Response Organization at the power plant, which means I would be on the sequester team if the storm was bad enough. Well, as it got closer it became more clear where the storm was headed – directly toward the plant. And it was likely to be a big one. So I knew I was staying no matter what.
So Kimberly, seeing the impending possibility of taking care of three young kids, by herself, while a massive hurricane pounded right into us, made an almost immediate decision to get everyone else the hell out of Dodge.
We are lucky to have friends and family all over the country, so we were fortunate that one of our close friends in Atlanta was willing to take us in and give Kim and the boys a place to stay for a few days. Kim and I packed the car while the boys were at school that Friday. After picking them up, we gave them a quick snack, clothes change, and potty; then we immediately loaded them into the car so that they could get on the road.
I felt really guilty that I couldn’t make the trip, and that Kim had to drive for 7+ hours by herself with 3 kids. But if anyone could do it, it’s her, and I had no doubt in my mind that they’d all get through it just fine. After watching Kimberly throughout our years together, I’m convinced she can literally do anything she sets her mind to, no matter how difficult or demanding. But the guilt I felt was still very strong.
For the rest of Friday and into Saturday, I prepped the house for the storm and packed up my supplies for staying at the plant. I knew it wouldn’t exactly be luxury accommodations, so I had to dig into some of my old camping gear to make sure I had everything I needed. I got to use my old boy scout sleeping bag for the first time in years, so that brought up a bit of nostalgia (even though this was definitely not what I had in mind for it).
The sequester team was supposed to be at the plant by 6:00 AM that Sunday, but Kim and I were nervous that the effects of the storm might be starting earlier than that. So instead I decided to leave the house at 2:00 AM to get a head start, and to also give myself a buffer in case any roads had been closed. Turns out nobody else was on the road, and none of the roads had been closed, so I made it to work in no time. I kept myself busy at my desk for a few hours until it was time to check in with the team and hunker down.
For most of the day, everyone was just in “wait around” mode, while the storm slowly approached us. But eventually the announcement was made that we were beginning to shut down the reactor because the sustained winds were getting too high (we have a regulatory limit that’s based on our plant design). That’s when we knew it was getting serious. We still had internet access the entire time, and at one point in the evening I remember checking the weather radar and seeing that the eye wall of the hurricane was directly over us. All of our heavy doors were sealed shut, and the walls there are 3-foot-thick concrete, so we really had no idea what was going on outside. But we knew it probably wasn’t pretty.
At some point in the evening we lost offsite power, and we had to start our emergency diesel generators to supply the plant with power. That was definitely a “shit’s getting real” moment – anytime we have to start those up (if it’s not just for testing) we have to submit a report to the NRC. We all knew it was going to be a long few days once those kicked in.
There were only 5 or 6 engineers sequestered on site for the hurricane, and we had all been up all day, so at one point in the night we decided to go down to the makeshift bunk room and catch some rest. We were woken up around 1:30 later that night, because the worst of the storm had passed and we needed to help assess any damage outside.
Going out right after the storm, in the middle of the night, was a pretty eerie experience – it was still quite windy, pitch black due to all of the power being out, and not a soul around. It had a very post-apocalyptic feel to it.
There was definitely some damage – metal siding and roofing peeled off of surrounding buildings, doors blown off of their hinges, windows broken, and a lot of chain link security fencing had been knocked over. There was even one large warehouse just outside the fence that had an entire side ripped right off – our hypothesis was that a tornado had touched down right by it. But despite all I saw, I couldn’t help but keep thinking, “this could have been a LOT worse.” Overall, there was no major structural damage to the plant itself, and while we knew there would certainly be damage to the surrounding buildings and structures, it all seemed relatively manageable (at least at first glance – one of the main office buildings had a lot of water damage due to a leaking roof and broken windows; it’ll be out of commission for a little while).
The first couple of days seemed to last forever. While we had our main generators powering our essential equipment, we had a bunch of secondary systems (which weren’t connected to the diesels) that still needed power. Most of this stuff wasn’t technically “necessary” in regards to safe operation of the plant, but rather “nice-to-have” – potable water for bathrooms/showers, outside lights, and most importantly, air conditioning for the auxiliary buildings. We had to get creative in hooking up portable generators in various locations to make this happen, but luckily a nuclear power plant has no shortage of clever people. Just about everything we do on a normal day is strictly “by the book” – but at a time like this, the book sometimes has to get thrown out the window (in proper accordance with the book-throwing procedure, of course).
Being a mechanical engineer, I actually felt bad for my electrical engineer colleague who was sequestered with me (we had one of each specialty on the team). Seemed like every problem that came up was along the lines of, “How can we get power to _____?” Meanwhile most of the mechanical equipment was working just fine. Luckily he’s a wicked smart and super-capable guy, but I couldn’t help but keep asking “how can I help?”
By day 3, people were starting to trickle onto the site. The sequester team finally got some relief – more mechanics, engineers, operators, and others came in to help lighten the workload. They also brought in more generators, food and water, and even some bunkhouse trailers for the workers to stay in (they weren’t the Ritz Carlton by any means, but they were air conditioned and had showers, so it was a huge upgrade!).
A massive semi-container-sized generator was hooked up to the building where my office is located, and within a day the building was all cleaned up with the lights on and the A/C cranking. The cafeteria is also inside that building, and soon they were cooking up three hot meals every day. It was starting to finally feel normal again.
For the next couple of weeks we had free food and lodging available to us as needed. Say what you want about corporate greed and working exploitation (definitely not saying it never happens), but our company absolutely took care of us during this challenging time. Their response to the hurricane, and how it affected their employees’ families, was commendable. I can truly say I’m proud to work there.
And best of all, we were granted paid overtime! For a salaried worker, that’s a huge plus.
During this time, Kim and the boys had relocated to a rental house near Gulfport, MS, in oder to link up with her parents and be closer to the house. I was originally planning to take a day or two off to see them after my first 5 or 6 days. But our power had not yet been restored at the house, and the 2+ hour drive to Mississippi was still a bit far. Plus Kim and I were concerned how it would affect the boys to see me for such a short amount of time and then have me just leave them again (Hunter especially had already been struggling with all of the changes and moving around).
We decided it would be better for me to just keep lending a hand at the plant until the house was ready for us to move back in. That was a tough decision to make, and it definitely didn’t help the guilt I was already feeling, but I just wanted what was best for the kids. Fortunately Kim and I were able to meet up at our house when she took a resupply trip, and while it was short lived it was still nice to see each other to provide some comfort and encouragement.
I had been making trips to the house every couple of days to check on things and to run the generator, so I was able to stock up on a few creature comforts to feel more at home while staying at work. I even brought my Apple TV and hooked it up to a TV in a conference room so that we could watch the opening weekend of college football (I definitely won some popularity points with that).
After ten very long days, I was finally able to take some time off to reunite with my family and help get our life back to a (somewhat) normal state. Luckily the supervisors and managers in my department had seen me there every day since the storm hit, and they basically told me to take off as much time as I needed. I was able to take four days away from work, and while it was by no means a vacation, I was overjoyed to finally see the boys again, and actually spend some uninterrupted time with them.
Three weeks later and things are still not completely back to normal here, but it at least seems to be getting better by the day. The hurricane was no doubt an ordeal, but we remind ourselves that we could have fared much, much worse. Some of the towns near the power plant were practically leveled, and may take years to fully recover. Some people lost nearly everything, and had their lives completely upended. Our house was mostly unscathed, and other than having to temporarily relocate and empty out our entire fridge, we weren’t put under major financial or emotional stress.
Overall, we were very lucky.
