CAEC Crews Assisted in Hurricane Irma Recovery

Crews from Central Alabama Electric Cooperative (CAEC) left for Florida to assist with power restoration efforts following Hurricane Irma’s landfall on Sunday, Sept. 9.

A team of sixteen CAEC employees are helped crews from Clay Electric Cooperative in Keystone Heights, Fla., near Gainesville. After the storm Clay Electric had more than 161,000 members out of power (or 90 percent of their system) from the storm.

CAEC crews were released to help Clay Electric after the remnants of Irma blew through our service territory on Monday, Sept. 11. The storm’s winds resulted in 1,535 CAEC members losing power; however, all have been restored.

Our crews joined several other Alabama cooperatives in sending linemen to aid Florida cooperatives, which is standard procedure for the nationwide network of cooperatives that work together during severe weather events, including hurricanes such as this one, tornadoes, and winter ice and snow storms.

CAEC linemen, as well as 1,000 other crew members from 11 states, helped Clay Electric finish the job of restoring 99 percent of power to those who could be reconnected in just over a week period. Our crews were released from Clay Electric and returned home on Wednesday, Sept. 20.