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Over 4.4 million people are still without power due to Hurricane Irma. (By late Tuesday, power was restored to 1.1 million customers of the 5 million who lost electricity.)
"We will not stop working until every customer's electricity is restored," Florida Power & Light Company said via Twitter.
Eversource crews will get to work early Wednesday. A total of 100 employees from Connecticut, Massachusetts, and New Hampshire arrived in Orlando on Tuesday. They received assignments to help repair widespread damage to the energy system caused by severe winds and coastal flooding.
“The damage caused by Hurricane Irma is extensive and a significant portion of the system may require a complete rebuild,” said Eversource Incident Commander Marc Geaumont. “Hurricane winds brought trees down onto power lines and broke utility poles, and flooding makes work to complete repairs more challenging. We’re proud to join crews from throughout the country for this restoration effort, and we are all committed to working throughout the days and nights in the coming weeks to help get the lights on for customers here in Florida.”
On Saturday, crews from Eversource headed south in a convoy of 70 vehicles, including the company’s Mobile Command Center. The convoy stopped in Virginia on Sunday to service the bucket trucks and prepare for the work ahead, then drove through flash flood warnings, tornado warnings, and tropical storm warnings before arriving in Florida on Tuesday to check in with the state’s largest power company, Florida Power & Light Company.
A member of the industry’s Mutual Aid Network, Eversource sent as many crews to Florida as possible, while retaining the resources needed to maintain the system at home. Its call center has also been providing support to Tampa Electric Company by answering their customers’ outage calls.
“In the past when we needed help, crews from all over the East Coast, including Florida, have assisted with our restoration efforts," Geaumont said. "We're proud to provide aid to our utility partners that have readily supported us in previous storms.”
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