In the wake of Hurricane Hanna, Texas public power utility Austin Energy on July 27 sent line workers and support personnel to South Texas to help with power restoration efforts.
The Austin Energy team departed mid-day with five bucket trucks, two digging derricks, and three support vehicles to help bring power back for affected communities. The team is prepared to provide help for up to two weeks in Mercedes, Texas, and the surrounding area.
Austin Energy received the request for mutual aid from investor-owned American Electric Power Texas.
Austin Energy noted that safety is always a top priority and said deploying aid during a pandemic requires extra care and consideration.
“To ensure the safety of our employees, our crews will only work with other Austin Energy staff, staying with their same team members and following established COVID-19 safety protocols,” the utility said.
Additional safety measures were also taken into consideration when setting up lodging for the crews.
In this tweet, Austin Energy team members can be seen getting their safety briefing before they loaded up and headed to South Texas.
