Posted on 09/26/2005 2:56:39 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
NEW ORLEANS — Keith Lafonta labored Monday at a squat building on Chef Menteur Highway, picking through a row of BellSouth trucks to see what equipment was worth salvaging as the company faces an unprecedented challenge restoring phone service to storm-battered New Orleans.
He wore gloves to guard against a foul dust of dried mud left behind after floodwaters were pumped out.
Sweat seeped through his white BellSouth polo shirt as midday temperatures crept toward the upper 90s.
"All this was underwater," Lafonta said, sweeping his hand toward a bleak scene of battered vehicles that were flooded by polluted water and then ransacked by looters. "They took tools, personal things. I don't know why. These trucks were ours."
Workers like Lafonta are in the early stages of what could be a $600 million restoration project for BellSouth on the Gulf Coast. Service is working in many areas, but in New Orleans, nearly four weeks after Hurricane Katrina struck, damage is so bad that legions of workers are still dealing with basic tasks before even beginning the daunting process of restringing phone lines.
For now, the first order of business is difficult jobs such as decontaminating major switching facilities. In some cases, whole operations might have to be rebuilt. All of this is happening under harsh conditions and, late in the week, worries that Hurricane Rita would make the job even tougher.
New Orleans has faced one hurdle after another since Katrina swept through Aug. 29. Early last week, a nauseating stench of sewage and decay still permeated the city. Crews moved through town under protection of armed escorts, and many left before nightfall.
Work is under way at places like BellSouth's critical switching facility on Franklin Street, near Independence Square, where a body lay on the hood of a nearby car for five days. The carcass of a dog still rots on a street filled with dirty cars and abandoned houses. In the midst of this, workers had to decontaminate two buildings that were drenched in polluted waters.
Critical early decisions
Debbie Albert, a BellSouth environmental health and safety manager who normally works from her home office in Augusta, visited the site Monday, poking her head into a building that contractors had stripped to the studs. On the way out, Albert called a colleague, questioning whether the gutted old building was worth salvaging.
"There's a lot of termite damage," she said. "I think you need to see it."
BellSouth's early work in New Orleans revolves around such decisions. When this work is done, workers can examine lines more closely and figure out how to restore service. It's already clear that many lines are cut, sheared by winds or tangled in dead trees. Flooding has destroyed lines, too.
The recovery effort will be labor-intensive. The company has bolstered its New Orleans work force of 2,000, bringing in more than 1,400 people. Twenty-six are retirees who've come back to work; 167 are borrowed staffers from phone companies SBC Communications and Verizon.
Many reinforcements have flocked from around BellSouth's nine-state system. A sizable contingent is from BellSouth's home in Atlanta.
Work is expected to continue for months, and the problems could be compounded by the impact of Rita.
'Tent cities' set up
In the meantime, the company is doing what it can to aid employees. Many workers lost homes and have been forced to stay with relatives or in temporary quarters, including "tent cities" BellSouth set up across the Gulf Coast.
A shelter in Baton Rouge hosts a collection of circuslike tents behind a BellSouth building. At its height, the center held 600 cots, two dining quarters and a makeshift day care facility to shelter BellSouth workers, their families, contractors and company volunteers.
Bibby King serves as "mayor" of this tent city. Perpetually upbeat, the Dunwoody woman wears pink — pink shoelaces, pink shirts, a watch with a pink face. It makes her easy to find.
King, who normally manages a program for BellSouth employees with cancer, has handled disasters in the past, but Katrina brought new challenges. The company had never cared for children before; 34 arrived with employees at the Baton Rouge tent city. "We didn't have toys. We didn't have anything like coloring books," King said.
No BellSouth employees died because of Katrina. But some lost relatives, said Allan Kennedy, regional employee assistance program administrator from Atlanta. Many bodies have not been recovered, so funerals are pending. People also are dealing with worries like finding new homes in crowded Baton Rouge or getting kids accustomed to unfamiliar schools.
One thing they want to do is work, despite stifling Louisiana heat, fatigue and irritation from idling in traffic jams just to get around Baton Rouge and New Orleans.
Kennedy normally works at BellSouth's office tower in Midtown Atlanta. He was dispatched to Baton Rouge to counsel employees and slept on the floor of a room filled with phone switching equipment during his first four nights in Baton Rouge.
"It never ceases to amaze me," he said. "These guys have lost their houses, and they're still working. It's remarkable to see the work ethic in these guys."
Thornton Anderson Jr.'s first day back at BellSouth was Monday. The technician was trapped in New Orleans after Katrina, spending a night in his attic and daylight hours atop his flooded house, watching for help.
Finally, a helicopter arrived and plucked him from the roof.
Lafonta escaped by airboat after waters rose in the Gentilly neighborhood of New Orleans, riding out with his wife, three cousins and two dogs. They found refuge 75 miles to the northwest, in a hunting cabin Lafonta keeps in a town called Amite.
'Every day's a better day'
After such experiences, the restoration work, arduous as it is, has been a welcome relief for many.
"Every day's a better day," said Nancy Shebesta, who can't live in her flooded home in lower Plaquemines Parish. She immersed herself in her job as facility manager at BellSouth's main office in downtown New Orleans.
Through it all, Shebesta has found other morale boosters. When she returned to gather personal items at her house, she found a prized possession: a crystal replica of the national championship trophy Louisiana State University's football team won in 2003.
"I looked on the shelf, and there it was," she said.
She tucked it into a suitcase and looks forward to the day, probably far off, when life might get back to normal.
"We're going to rebuild," she said, "in the same place."
And it amazes me that this was published in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Too bad the cut and run police officers from NO couldn't take a page fom these dedicated employees.
They have a monumental job to do but they will do it.
I know I am not the brightest bulb on the planet. But please tell me why, when they got word to evacuate , Bell South didnt move their trucks to high ground? They had a couple of days. The idiot mayor leaving his busses in the swamp and now Bell South .Mobile equipment CAN be moved folks.
As for the employees staying on the job. What else can they do? They have houses that need repair and they need those paychecks. The cops who left were trash hired under the residency requirement who were probably on unemployment when they were hired and will go back on it now, IF they dont get put back on the job, which in New Orleans is likely.
Private companies are motivated to care for their employees.
Yes. That was a big mistake.
It's just a nice story about people working a hard job and doing it under difficult circumstances.
Yes they are.
My neighbor is one of those 167. He left yesterday for a "3-month deployment" to the Gulf Region. His truck was shipped out last week and he was told to expect to work 12+ hrs/day, 13 days on and 1 off. He joins 15 other SBC employees from the SBC Northern California region (Bakersfield to Sacramento). He was also told to expect to be quartered in "tent city" until accomodations become available.
We told him Saturday, that he has our deepest admiration and gratitude.
Thank you for the post.
Give him our best.
It never ceases to amaze me," he said. "These guys have lost their houses, and they're still working. It's remarkable to see the work ethic in these guys."
Hats off to those who are at least trying to recover and not setting back whining while holding their hand out. These people should be commended for at least doing something.
And my paper boy sends me a message after Christmas, that my tip was insuffient to assure on time Sunday delivery, as this is a "service industry, you know"
He may be in the wrong line of work.
LOL
My truck didn't get flooded!
:)
Keith and Thornton are nice guys. Both have been around for about 30 years. We didn't lose a single employee but it took about a month to get everyone back together again.
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