Mike Clark This is Me

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1. 1. www.dailyworld.com

   www.dailyworld.com/apps/pbcs.d - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/25/2007   Last Visited: 5/26/2007

   "Predictions for this coming season include 17 named storms, nine hurricanes and five major hurricanes," said Mike Clark, safety, emergency management and training manager for Cleco. "We have 26 teams in house, ready for storm response and if need be, more."
   
   Clark said of the 500 people earmarked for teams within the company, specific job designations are assigned from buildings and ground response to communication liaison work.
   
   For the 2005 hurricane season, one of the most difficult tasks was keeping drinks and meals coming in so workers could be fed as they cleared up debris and repaired lines.
   
   "The vendors couldn't keep up and we had trouble with staging areas because others got there first," he said. Even hotel and motel rooms booked for Cleco workers were not available due to evacuees having to stay following the storms, he said.
   
   Clark said it was important for the first responders to know Cleco follows a set pattern of response that ranks which services and businesses receive assistance first. Cleco works to restore power to "hospitals, then nursing homes," he said. "Waterwells and sewer treatment plants come next because we want to get the area's infrastructure back up as soon as possible."
   
   Cleco hopes that with this understanding, then first responders can help the public to be patient while workers make their way to neighborhoods and homes, Clark said. The "most critical needs come first," he said.
   
   Of course, down powerlines are critical and special teams are assigned to address those as fast as they are reported, while others tackle infrastructure issues, he said.
   ...
   Clark said it is Cleco's hope that every town, city and parish begins conducting meetings so services can be planned out and dovetailed into each other.
   
   Eunice Police Chief Gary "Goose" Fontenot said he found people were not impatient so long as everyone was out of services. "But when some began to come on," problems arouse, he explained.
   
   Clark said local towns, cities and parish governments need only ask and Cleco will provided them with a listing of vendors. Individual governmental bodies can then negotiate with the vendors for water, ice and fuel deliveries.
   
   Preparations need to be dovetailed, Clark said.

2. 2. Newschannel 5 Online

   www.kalb.com/servlet/Satellite - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/30/2006   Last Visited: 5/31/2006

   "We're still learning things how to do business better, how to get lights on quicker, what to do to accommodate customers and we want to share this with community leaders," says Mike Clark, manager of emergency management at Cleco.
   
   This year, they're focusing on details, after the challenges they faced with crew lodging and fuel for their trucks.
   
   "We're talking logistical improvements, like sleeping more crews, feeding them, fueling vehicles, just general preparation," says Mike.
   
   And they feel this early prepping is key. They have teams assembled for each task, like fuel, materials, and lodging, to help their crews get the job done quickly.
   
   "Little things like that just make make such an improvement it keeps those guys going and not having to worry with things in the background," says Mike.

3. 3. The response factor

   www.builderonline.com/pages/bu - [Cached]

   Published on: 5/31/2003   Last Visited: 5/31/2003

   In a dark, clear night last October, Mike Clark walked outside his office in Eunice, LA. Clark, manager of emergency management at Cleco, an electric utility serving 23 parishes in Louisiana, had been working nonstop since Hurricane Lili swept through the central part of the state the day before. The Eunice area had been especially hard hit. It was 11:00 PM.
   
   As Clark stepped from the building for a rest, he saw nothing except for the light of the stars. While most people might enjoy such unadulterated starlight, for an emergency worker it was a strange-and frightening-- feeling. Clark grew up in Eunice and knows the area as well as anyone, and now the familiar shops, businesses, and neighborhoods were completely dark.
   
   "When you work for an electric company, it leaves a real empty feeling not to be able to see a light in any direction," he said. "I was really worried for my community, my friends, and my neighbors."
   
   In the dark, the lack of electricity was the overwhelming indication that the community's life had been severely disrupted- but things improved in relatively quick order. "When I left work two days later, it thrilled me to see that all the lights had come back on," said Clark.