BPA staff help with hurricane response efforts

On the evening of Sept. 26, Hurricane Helene made landfall in North Florida as a category 4 storm. Spreading through the Southeastern United States, the storm wreaked havoc on the region's power grid. In response to the catastrophe, federal Emergency Support Functions and the recently activated Surge Capacity Force worked to support affected areas. From the Northwest, Bonneville Power Administration employees deployed to assist with these efforts.

Emergency Support Functions coordinate with state governments to provide federal interagency support during and after a catastrophic event. Currently, under the guidance of the National Response Framework, 15 ESFs are connected to a federal agency or department. ESF 12, tied to the Department of Energy, supports energy infrastructure systems, including downed power line restoration, in affected communities.

In addition to the deployment of ESF 12 volunteers, the Secretary of Homeland Security authorized the activation of a Surge Capacity Force in response to hurricanes Helene and Milton. The SCF was established through the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act of 2006. Activated twice before 2024, the SCF supported areas affected by Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria in 2017. Eligible federal employees can volunteer to deploy to affected areas once the SCF has been authorized.

BPA supervisory electrical engineer Michael Hulse deployed to South Carolina as a part of ESF 12's Catastrophic Incident Response Team for two weeks. Hulse helped provide clear communications between the Federal Emergency Management Agency and the state's Emergency Operations Center run by the National Guard.

Working with local utilities, Hulse acted as a go-between for utilities, state and federal officials to ensure they could communicate properly. As an ESF 12 member, Hulse said he was able to provide some sort of consistency for those he worked with, in an otherwise perpetual state of personnel change.

“I became a constant and was able to provide the proper lines of contact," he said. “If I didn't have the answer to something, I would chase it down.

Hulse coordinated with other ESF functions in South Carolina, establishing successful communication lines between those groups. “You have to be honest, you have to be prompt and you have to be available," Hulse said.

In response to his work in South Carolina, Hulse received recognition from South Carolina's Office of Regulatory Staff for his work assisting the state's ESF 12 functions.

BPA civil engineer Rasha Kroonen deployed to support ESF 12 efforts in Florida on Oct. 7. Landing a day-and-a-half before Hurricane Milton made landfall, she embedded with FEMA's National Incident Management Assistance Team. Within IMAT, Kroonen worked to establish a detailed report on the local energy infrastructure for FEMA.

“When I arrived, we were trying to figure out how the reporting structure worked," she said. “Who do you talk to when you need to restore a specific hospital or water treatment plant?"

Already recovering from the effects of Hurricane Helene, Florida was experiencing up to 40,000 outages. That number grew to 3.3. million after Hurricane Milton made landfall, Kroonen said. 

After weathering the storm with the IMAT team, Kroonen reported to Tampa, where she aided general energy support efforts. She helped allocate FEMA's energy restoration crew to areas that requested support by coordinating with local utilities and counties.

In North Carolina, spouses Rob and Judy Schoenberg assisted both ESF 12 and SCF efforts, respectively. Rob Schoenberg, a senior system dispatcher at BPA, deployed as a part of ESF 12's Catastrophic Incident Response Team for two weeks. Arriving a day after Helene made landfall, he reported to the state's Emergency Operations Center.

“You're there to help the state," he said. “You're there to remove barriers."

Like Hulse, Schoenberg said a majority his work consisted of creating proper lines of communication at the state level up to the Department of Energy, connecting local utilities to the proper resources for assistance.

“You're asking that utility, 'What help do you need?'" he said.

Partway through his deployment, Schoenberg participated in a FEMA power task force where he helped address energy-related concerns surrounding drinking and wastewater.

“I was part of the team that was determining how soon we could restore power to these facilities," he said.

BPA electrical engineer Judy Schoenberg arrived in North Carolina after her husband, having volunteered to deploy as a part of the SCF. Schoenberg worked in the state's SCF call center. As one of 100 call center volunteers, Schoenberg helped sift through upwards of 10,000 call requests in North Carolina alone. She said most of the work is to direct callers to the necessary resources and assistance.

“We had people who lost documents proving who they were, like driver's licenses," she said.

For others, she would spend an hour on the phone and provide callers with hope, adding, “It makes my day when I call people and they say, 'I'm so glad you called – I've been waiting to talk with someone.'"