COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — As Hurricane Ian approaches Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, crews in Ohio are getting ready Wednesday morning to help in the relief efforts down south.
More than 500 AEP Ohio employees and contractors are set to depart to help restore power to areas of Florida and Georgia that will lose power as Ian makes landfall.
They will be supporting Georgia Power, Florida Power & Light, and Tampa Power with line workers, tree crews, damage assessors, and crew supervisors.
AEP crews in the Buckeye state have a history of traveling south for hurricane relief with crews going to Longview, Texas in 2020 after Hurricane Laura and in 2018 after Hurricane Michael in Alabama and Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico.
Tampa Electric says workers will begin by resourcing electric services to power plants and substations before working their way to critical service facilities like hospitals, police stations, and then to local communities to restore outages.