Planning helps city avoid major issues in Abbeville

The infrastructure of the city of Abbeville remained largely unscathed during the freezing temperatures that engulfed the area earlier this week.
Abbeville Mayor Roslyn White said while city officials have plenty of experience planning for hurricanes, that doesn’t necessarily translate when temperatures linger in single digits.
“Freezing weather, especially for prolonged periods, presents a different set of challenges than other types of storms,” White said.
However, city officials didn’t allow a similar event from a couple of years ago to go to waste in regard to having a proper plan in place.
“The freeze plan we implemented in early 2023 helped us to get through the recent winter storm,” White said.
Much of that plan centered around the city’s water system, something White said was the most vulnerable asset during freezes.
“Like many of the systems around us,” White said, “we saw a higher consumption than normal.”
White spent most of Wednesday at the water plant alongside the operators.
“When temperatures started to rise,” White explained, “we started losing water reserves faster than normal at a rate that we knew we would be unable to keep up with. As a team, we discussed options and made some tweaks that helped. We were also able to ‘stop the bleeding.’ 
“That effort took the entire team and the help of residents.”
Members of the Abbeville Fire Department spent Wednesday and Thursday riding a grid through the city to look for leaks, shutting them off once they were located.
“We pleaded with residents to conserve water, and we acted quickly when leaks were called in,” White said.
Once able, the city began to replenish water reserves overnight on Wednesday.
“On Thursday, we followed the plan again, and it worked,” White said Friday morning.  “This morning (Friday), our system is operating back up to near normal operations.”
Power to homes is another primary concern during weather events.
“Thankfully, we had very little major issues with the electrical system,” White said. “I believe this is a credit to our proactive maintenance and vegetation management approach.”
As temperatures began to rise on Friday, White said the efforts of many were to thank for getting through the period when those temperatures were at their lowest.
“We have a great team,” White said. “They work hard to provide great service to our community, especially in adverse weather conditions.”