Father, daughter part of company’s storm team in Savannah

Allison Ladner sent her dad a text message last week punctuated by four exclamation points — she was going to be part of Mississippi Power’s storm team bound for Savannah, Ga., to help restore power after Hurricane Matthew.

The return text from Substation Electrician Wally Ladner of Gulfport contained equally exciting news  — he was going on the trip, too.

Allison, you might say in utility parlance, is a feeder off the old substation, following her father into the industry as a co-op student majoring in electrical engineering at Mississippi State University.

“I’m proud of her that she has chosen this as her field,” Wally said. “It’s been exciting to watch her learn and grow. This has been a tremendous opportunity for her.”

Allison has been working with the company in Hattiesburg since January through the co-op program. A junior, she will return to Starkville in January with graduation in 2018 in sight.

Being on this storm trip has not only provided excellent fodder for her required presentation when she gets back to school, it’s also allowed her to spend some quality time with her dad during some of the crew’s rare down time.

“We’ve been seeing each other at breakfast and dinner and we catch up on what we’ve done that day,” Allison said. “He’s in transmission and I’m in distribution, which is two totally different things. It’s been exciting getting to spend some time with him because he’s on the coast and I’m either in Hattiesburg or Starkville, so it’s always great when we get the chance to see each other.”

Wally’s job on the trip has been to transport the company’s mobile command center and any “grunt work” that is needed, as he puts it. He was also keeping up with his other daughter, Catie, from afar. She’s a star player on Hancock High’s 31-3 volleyball team and had 18 kills in a sweep of Ocean Springs Tuesday night.

Allison has primarily worked with a line crew from Laurel.

“It’s amazing what I’ve learned from when I started in January until now,” Allison said. “I know so much more. I’m more confident in myself. I’m going to work as long as I can and it’s going to be kinda sad to go back to school.

“Being on this storm trip at this time in my co-op has been perfect because I better understand the lingo and I’m able to follow what’s going on.”

She is impressed by the precision team work in difficult, often dangerous, situations in the devastation left by the hurricane.

“It’s amazing how we can stop one thing and go help somebody else,” she said. “I like the way they easily flow from one thing to another. I love it. How they work together is great.”

Mississippi Power’s team arrived in Savannah midday on Sunday after departing on Saturday with 102 personnel and about 50 vehicles.

Going into Wednesday’s work, the crew had replaced 10 broken poles and picked up about 50 spans of primary connection.

On Wednesday, the team was assigned to the Remler’s Corner neighborhood near Savannah’s downtown area.

They will be working on three feeders in difficult-to-reach areas behind houses with a lot of tree damage to navigate. This job will likely linger into Thursday.

Georgia Power’s goal is to have 90 percent of the power restored by midnight on Wednesday with the help of sister utilities Mississippi Power, Gulf Power and Alabama Power, as well as other utility crews and contractors in the area as part of the mutual assistance program.