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