Chicago-based energy company ComEd is sending hundreds of workers to Georgia and Florida to help with power restoration efforts following Hurricane Ian.
“At the request of Georgia Power and Tampa Electric, ComEd is deploying 100 ComEd employees and 150 contractors, plus support staff, for a total of more than 250 employees, to assist in restoration efforts following expected hurricane outages Ian in Georgia and Florida,” ComEd said. in a press release sent to CNN affiliate WBBM.
Crews started rolling out Tuesday morning.
Charlotte, North Carolina-based Duke Energy is also sending nearly 10,000 support personnel to help secure locations in Florida.
Line workers, tree professionals, damage assessment and support personnel “will be ready to respond to outages when it is safe to do so.” spokesperson Neil Nissan said in an email to CNN, adding that the additional staff will come from the Indiana, Kentucky and Ohio territories.
The company is “actively tracking” Ian’s path and is strategically placing crews in areas that will be most affected.
Hurricane Ian made landfall Tuesday morning in western Cuba, where more than 38,000 people had evacuated to avoid damage, CNN previously reported.
CNN meteorologists predict that at least 8 million people are under a hurricane warning in west and central Florida, meaning they are subject to hurricane-force winds of 74 mph or higher.
