Page 6 - Mississippi 811 Magazine 2020 Issue 4

Damage Prevention Lewis Holifield
by Melissa Hancock 811 Magazines
Tornados wreaked havoc across the southeastern United States on Easter Sunday and Monday, April 12-13, 2020, the strongest of which was rated a high-end EF4 and occurred in Mississippi. The tornado outbreak included a total of 140 tornados touching down and inflicting catastrophic damage across Mississippi and nine other states. Among those responding to the storm was Lewis Holifield, Natural Gas Operations
area manager for CenterPoint Energy in Laurel, Mississippi. He and his
team jumped to action when faced
with the disaster, and his efficiency
and dedication of service did not go unnoticed. For years, colleagues in the field have taken note of the great job
he and his team do when responding
to natural disasters as they occur in the area.
Lewis recently celebrated his 33-year anniversary with CenterPoint Energy. He values the clean source of energy CenterPoint Energy provides to its customers. “We serve the public - both residential and industrial customers - offering a very clean product. Natural gas plays a key role in assuring our energy supply remains strong, while providing consumers an affordable
and safe source of energy.” Lewis also has a great appreciation for the “lower impact it has on the greenhouse effects we’re dealing with in today’s society.” Lewis values the product they offer and their customers, which is his primary motivation when faced with disasters, such as the one that occurred Easter Sunday. “The first thing is making sure that our customers and our employees are safe. Protecting the public and customer safety, that’s our number one priority—SAFETY.”
Being prepared is key. “We are always prepared for any kind of natural disasters. Once the storms pass through and it is safe to respond, we immediately dispatch our workforce to assess the affected areas. They start working on natural gas leaks due to weather damage and checking on any reports of blowing natural gas. We’ll have our construction crews on-site safely and efficiently working to make sure that we can get natural gas leaks stopped in a safe manner. The storm we experienced Easter Sunday was spread out so far that four of the areas I oversee were hit by the storm. We responded to all those areas. The
4 • Mississippi 811
2020, Issue 4