Rebuilding After the Storm

Onalaska tornado touched down one year ago

By Andrea Agardy

Onalaska residents were surprised late one afternoon last spring when an EF3 tornado touched down on the western shore of Lake Livingston.

“It just showed up out of nowhere,” says Keith Lemons, outside plant supervisor for Eastex. “I live about 15 miles from there, and I was getting reports on my phone about a tornado warning. I looked outside, and the sun was shining here with a few clouds, but nothing like that. I just couldn’t believe it. Then I started getting calls from my employees.”

With wind speeds up to 140 mph and stretching to a width of 1,100 yards, the tornado was on the ground for 40 minutes and traveled a length of 32 miles across San Jacinto and Polk counties. When it dissipated, the swath of the destruction in its wake was immense. It took the lives of three people and left four others critically injured. More than 300 homes were damaged with 173 destroyed completely.

“Until I drove out there, I didn’t realize just how bad it was,” Lemons says. “I know the subdivision layout toward the lake, and when I looked up there, there were very few big pine trees left. I knew then that it was pretty extensive.”

Restoring Service

Eastex crews spent approximately 1,200 man hours working to get members back up and running in the aftermath of the April 22, 2020, storm. But before Eastex personnel could get to work, emergency service crews needed to tend to the injured and start clearing the way.

“In a situation like that, we had to stand back and let first responders go in,” Lemons says. “There was no way to get into some of those subdivisions because of the tree damage. We had to let them do what they had to do before we could ever go in and start the repairs.”

Darkness fell shortly after the storm roared through, and with no electricity because of downed power lines, making roads passable was challenging. First responders and area residents used trucks, tractors, backhoes and other equipment to free streets of tree limbs and debris.

“We actually had a couple of our guys who went out on their own with chainsaws to help,” Lemons said. “There was no light since the power was out. They were just using headlights and flashlights.”

With installation and repair crew members on call 24/7 and well-established emergency operations plans at the ready, when the time was right, Eastex employees rolled up their sleeves and got to work.

“They spent from daylight ’til dark, and after dark,” Lemons says of the crews that went into the field. “They did a tremendous job. These guys were working 14, 16 hours a day. I don’t know that we had one complaint from any of them, and I know they were tired. They worked seven days a week until it was done. It wasn’t just the men in the field. The office personnel did very well also and were very busy.”

Surveying the Damage

Once crews were able to get out into the affected areas, they discovered the majority of the Eastex members who didn’t have service were offline as a result of the electricity outage — not because of damage to Eastex’s equipment and infrastructure. Of the roughly 700 customers in the storm’s path, only about 50 required repairs to get back up and running.

“Considering the damage that was done, we didn’t have that many people who were out of service,” says Anthony Hendrix, Eastex’s Livingston plant manager. “There were several units — the equipment that provides service to the customers — that were without power, but we were able to get generators on them until power was restored.”

Upgrades Ahead of Schedule

In some cases, Eastex was able to provide customers better broadband service than they previously had. In storm-affected areas where Eastex had been providing internet service using older copper connections, crews went in and installed fiber optic cables. Fiber provides faster and more reliable service that is less susceptible to interference. Roughly 219,000 feet of new fiber cables went in during the weeks after the tornado.

“Instead of making expensive repairs to all the copper, we decided to bring in as many people as we could and install fiber to the home to all these places, allowing us to upgrade these areas ahead of our planned schedule,” Hendrix says.

On the heels of the storm, the fiber rollout in affected subdivisions — including Creeklake Cove, Paradise Acres 1 and 2, Creekside, Leisurewood, Emerald Bay, Canyon Park, and Yaupon Cove — was accelerated. Once construction in these neighborhoods is complete, nearly 2,000 more Polk County households will have access to Eastex fiber internet service.

Being a Team Player

Eastex’s post-tornado efforts weren’t limited to just its own customers. The cooperative also provided service to a command center set up at the Onalaska Volunteer Fire Department to ensure the response effort ran as quickly and efficiently as possible.

“We got them phones and internet there,” Lemons says. “We got it set up pretty quickly so they could communicate as well as they could with state officials and with their guys and document what they needed to document.”

To show appreciation to those that look after the whole community, Eastex made an effort to restore service as quickly as possible for emergency services personnel living in the affected areas.

“Some of the first responders lived in those subdivisions, and we tried to help them out,” Lemons says. “They had to lay down and rest. We tried to help every way we could with that community. Whatever they asked us to do, we tried to get there and get done.”