Business
EEI honors Caribbean Utilities Co. with Emergency Recovery Award for hurricane restoration efforts
EEI honors Caribbean Utilities Co. with Emergency Recovery Award for hurricane restoration efforts.
About this update from Caribbean Utilities Co. Ltd. Class A
[{"type":"text","content":"\n\n\n\n\nSCOTTSDALE, AZ, Jan. 17 /CNW/ - The Edison Electric Institute last week\nhonored Cayman Islands-based Caribbean Utilities Company, Ltd. (CUC) with its\nEmergency Recovery Award for outstanding efforts to restore electricity in the\nwake of 2004's Hurricane Ivan, the most powerful storm to hit the island\nnation since 1932.\nEEI, the association of shareholder-owned electric utilities, presents\nits \"Emergency Recovery\" award to both U.S. and foreign-based member companies\nto recognize outstanding efforts in restoring electric service that has been\ndisrupted by severe weather conditions or other natural events. Winners are\nchosen by a panel of judges following a national and international nomination\nprocess. Awards were presented during EEI's winter board meeting here\nWednesday.\nHurricane Ivan pummeled the Cayman Islands with hurricane force winds of\n150 miles per hour (mph) and gusts of 200 mph for more than 10 hours on\nSeptember 12, 2004, knocking out power to 100 percent of Grand Cayman's\npopulation and causing US$3.4 billion in damages in the process.\nDue to the nation's low-lying terrain, heavy winds, rain, and the\naccompanying storm surge washed over the Island, leaving major roadways\nvirtually impassable. Further, as much of the technology infrastructure was\nheavily damaged, communications, either via traditional landline or cell\nservice between different points of the country was extremely difficult.\nCompounding matters, roughly 50 percent of the vehicles on the Island were\nrendered unusable which made it difficult for residents to obtain supplies and\nseek assistance.\nTurning to the comprehensive hurricane recovery plan developed in the\naftermath of Hurricane Gilbert in 1988, CUC quickly reached into its vast\nnetwork of overseas utilities to procure technical support, labour and key\nmaterial items such as transformers, poles, conductors and other hardware,\ngoing so far as to charter jetliners and ships to bring in equipment from\nEcuador, Belize and the U.S.\nThe company also kicked off an aggressive communications campaign to\nprovide information on the restoration effort. Regular talk radio appearances\nby CUC's executive management gave customers access to accurate, up-to-the-\nminute information, and CUC employees even resorted to hand-delivering news\nreleases to media and other stak...