The Florida Municipal Electric Association on Sept. 25 provided details on how public power utilities are preparing for what is currently Tropical Storm Helene and is expected to make landfall this week as a hurricane.
“The Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) has been closely monitoring what is currently Tropical Storm Helene, which is expected to bring significant damaging winds, storm surge and rainfall as it makes landfall in Florida as a major hurricane,” said Amy Zubaly, Executive Director of FMEA.
FMEA serves as coordinator for Florida’s national public power mutual aid network and earlier this week activated this network in preparation for what is likely to become major Hurricane Helene.
“As the hours continue to tick away before Helene makes landfall in northern Florida late Thursday with life-threatening conditions and the potential for widespread extreme property damage, it will strengthen quickly and become a major hurricane, AccuWeather meteorologists warn,” AccuWeather said on its website.
“Our current restoration workforce of 1,200 will be bolstered by more than 350 supplemental crews, bringing our total restoration workforce to 1,550 personnel at this time. Crews from nine states are traveling to Florida to assist our state’s public power communities. Additional out-of-state and in-state crews will deploy to impacted areas once the threat to those communities has subsided,” Zubaly said.
“All Florida and out-of-state crews are ready to restore power as quickly and safely as possible after the hurricane makes landfall and moves through affected areas. We encourage all Floridians to finalize preparations now and head the warnings of local and state emergency response teams,” she said.
