WESCO Goes the Distance to Assist in Hurricane Recovery

Two hurricanes slammed the Gulf Coast, challenging Entergy to meet the electrical needs of hundreds of thousands of customers in Texas and Louisiana. Thanks to "whatever it takes" assistance from WESCO's Lafayette, Louisiana branch, Entergy met nature's challenge head-on.

"Anyone can supply material under normal circumstances," says LeBlanc, "But when we face challenges as we did, that is what separates the men from the boys."

"When I called WESCO the night before the hurricane hit, they did not tell me, 'we can't do it,'" says LeBlanc. "Their response was, 'OK, we'll get on it tonight and have it there in the morning,' even though this involved getting material to Beaumont while it was evacuating." "The storm was already hitting Lafayette," says LeBlanc, "But Kyle didn't hesitate to respond to us, even as the storm was hitting his own house during our phone call! It's important to note that I had also called a competitor of WESCO's who said they couldn't do anything."

Kyle Montero explains that WESCO went the extra mile to meet Entergy's needs, working 12- to 16-hour days over a long weekend and pulling in extra staff from Fort Worth, Austin, and Little Rock to assist in fulfilling orders. At one point UPS stopped running because their drivers couldn't get to work due to the storm.

"I found a UPS supervisor and was able to go to the UPS facility and go through the stranded trucks for our materials," Montero recounts. "Then we were able to ship them to Entergy on our own trucks."

Montero estimates that WESCO delivered two times Entergy's normal monthly volume
in just four days. LeBlanc says at times Entergy had four to six buyers calling WESCO at once, making separate requests, but everything was handled professionally and courteously, even though WESCO's other municipal and co-op clients in the storm-stricken area were also requesting assistance.

"In my mind, WESCO deserves Hall of Fame status for their performance," LeBlanc concludes. "I truly believe that most of the credit goes to the leadership of the Lafayette facility and WESCO's desire to serve their customers."