Repairs got complicated, but power restored in Morgan City

The work, 100 feet in the air and in the dark, took longer than expected, but repairs on a major Morgan City power line were complete and a citywide blackout ended by 5:40 a.m., Mayor Lee Dragna said
in a Facebook post Friday.

The blackout began at midnight. Officials said the work was needed to repair damage to the lightning protection for a line that brings Cleco power into Morgan City. The damage was sustained in a March storm that caused a six-hour blackout.

Dragna provided this timeline:

--"Midnight to 12:35 p.m., we grounded both ends of the 138,000 volts lines and both ends of the 6900 volt lines.

--"12:30 a.m. we started hooking up but the drawings were wrong and the parts didn’t fit. That’s where we came in and went to the city barn and scraped and scrounged and found enough parts to put this job together. ( bolt holes wouldn’t line up). Then we get to the next pole and the pins were welded in the holes from lightning strikes ( the contractor said he never saw that before).

"Good thing we brought a welding trailer with all the tools. After we got that free and the man lifts unstuck from the ground being wet then we were able to make the connections (6). 4:45 we started taking down the ground protection and at 5:00 we started charging the transformers and started putting lines back hot at 5:30. All hot at 5:40. Remember we were doing all of this at over 100’ in the air and in the dark."

Dragna thanked Jonathan Scully of Pelican Companies for providing two 135-foot man lifts, one 86-foot man lift, two light towers and a mechanic on standby.

"There is no doubt we would have struggled and it would have cost the city a lot more money if it weren’t for the relationship we have with Pelican," Dragna wrote.

He also thanked Utilities Director Bill Cefalu and Chief Administrative Officer Charlie Solar, who "stuck it out the whole time," and the city electric crew.

"This was a lot of unforeseen stuff but we overcame and saved the city about $150,000 in the process. We also have protection for the storm season."

The damage to the lightning protection happened in a March 21 storm.

Officials had hoped the repairs would take only a few hours.