Helping With Hurricane Damage
by J.B. McKinley &
Ben Hogwood

MORRISVILLE/JOHNSON - "We had no run-ins with reptiles or I'd have been
home..." laughed Morrisville Water & Light's Steve Cutler, one of the
area utility workers who accompanied a Burlington Electric
Department-led group to Florida to help repair hurricane damage. Ludlow,
Burlington and Vermont Electric Co-op also sent workers.
Cutler said the Vermont group ended up in Lakeland, FL, helping the
municipal utility which has 120,000 customers. He said the Lakeland
utility workers had been working 16 hours a day, seven days weekly since
the first of four hurricanes struck August 10. "Their first day off was
in mid-October just before we left for home," said Cutler.
Cutler said the necessary repairs to the power grid were substantially
along, but there was a tremendous amount of tree and wind damage - not
to mention buildings and roofs. All the repairs had to be done in 92 -
95 degree weather. "It was hot," sighed Cutler.
He said he "never realized the magnitude of these trees." He said he
worked where one tree smashed the three-phase power line to a religious
school and at another spot where a 20 foot in diameter live oak smashed
some power poles.
At another site, the canopy over the gas pumps at a convenience store
was uprooted and tossed upside down into power lines across the street.
Even the gas pumps were pulled from the cement and dangling from their
plumbing. But, Cutler said, the damage was hit and miss, in one place he
same a house trailer totally demolished with the next door trailer
untouched.
Cutler was "very, very impressed with the Floridians." He said they were
"unbelievably thankful" for the help and everyone was polite. "I never
heard a harsh or foul word."
"I met some fantastic people and they [Lakeland] treated us well, Cutler
added. He particularly remembers one street where he and Ed Cote were
working where a Costa Rican woman "just about adopted us."
Even on the 1,600 mile trip south, Cutler said everyone seemed to know
where they were headed and other drivers were giving them the thumbs up.
Then, on their last night in Florida a complete stranger accosted the
Morrisville men as they were headed into an Applebee's for dinner. He
handed them a $20 bill and said "I'd like to buy you a beer."
Before each day's work, Cutler explained all the work teams and trucks
would stage from "Tiger Stadium" in Lakeland, where they'd get their
work assignments and be served breakfast. Then it would be off to a
warehouse for materials and on to the day's job.
Bill Bosch, of Vermont Electric Co-op, said they sent three people down,
himself included, to help with repairs. "It was pretty bad," he said of
the situation, where 90 percent of the people in Lakeland were without
power. Like Cutler, he also stressed the amount of damage caused by
uprooted trees and downed poles. It was a difficult situation for the
electric companies who went down to help, he said, because instead of
quick fixes, a lot of the repairs had to be done from scratch.
VEC is part of a mutual aid system where if the company needs to help
someone they do, said Bosch. However, this trip to Florida was the
furthest they ever travelled.