CASE STUDIES

Hurricane Ian Relief Case Study

Hurricane Ian was a powerful Atlantic hurricane, the third costliest weather disaster on record. It peaked as a Category 5 hurricane with sustained winds of 160 mph in September 2022 while progressing towards the west coast of Florida. It made landfall just below peak intensity in Southwest Florida on Cayo Costa Island.

For a period of two-weeks leading up to US landfall, Sustain began prepositioning resources, coordinating logistics and providing daily operational support to customers in the region.

Following landfall Sustain provided a variety of services to support and encourage infrastructure development:

Power Delivery Support

Sustain provided manpower and equipment to assist Florida’s largest power utility. Services included personnel logistics (including mobilization/demobilization, lodging, training, meals, etc.), spill response, transformer identification/transportation and site remediation. Sustain’s action allowed line crews fast access to areas to restore power to millions of customers.

Supermarket Support

Due to the loss of power, many local stores needed support, including the largest and fastest growing employee-owned supermarket chain in the US. The team successfully acted as a critical liaison between corporate and store level managers, delivering dumpsters to sites across Central Florida. The services included container placement, relocation, and disposal. Sustain was able to place containers at sites in less than two (2) hours, while providing a reduction of store closure days by 58%.

Vacuum Truck/Pumping Systems

One of the more commonly encountered issues is management of flood waters that do not recede, following the storm. Throughout the state, Sustain was successful in providing vacuum trucks and pumping systems for the following scenarios: elevator shafts, parking garages, fuel stations and public works lift stations

Waste Transportation & Disposal (Lab Pack)

As local businesses rushed to reopen, Sustain quickly implemented transportation routes, which assisted with the removal of hazardous and non-hazardous waste. Commonly encountered materials were lighter fluid, bleach, pool treatment chemicals, paints and solvents.

Store Content Removal/Drying

Working with the second largest pharmacy store chain in the US, Sustain provided water extraction, structural drying and content removal. The services included a significant manpower and equipment effort, consisting of a team of 35 people and 30 equipment pieces, to coordinate material management with a thorough understanding of waste management to include controlled substances.

Safety FIRST

During a six (6) week period of performance, Sustain performed 36,874 hours of incident free services.