Politics
TECO workers head north to to help the South in Winter storm recovery
Teco employees could be helping with the cold blast recovery for up to two weeks.
The Tampa Electric Co. (TECO) is sending crews north to help Georgia and other Southern states deal with the approaching monster Winter storm.
The system is projected to pound a large swath of the U.S. with sleet and snow.
More than 200 people employed by TECO departed for Georgia Sunday from their Tampa area headquarters. Those workers are getting positioned to help those states restore power grids after the Winter blast passes.
Some 60 of those TECO employees are line workers who went directly to Macon, Georgia, that is serviced by Georgia Power.
“Once the conditions are safe, the line workers will move quickly to begin restoring service. They’re prepared to stay up to two weeks,” a TECO news release said.
Another 130 TECO workers including tree trimmers and line contractors headed to the Carolinas to help Duke Energy Carolinas recover and Alabama to assist Alabama Power to help in post-storm operations.
The ice and snowfall had already hit several states Sunday and were expected to continue into Monday in much of the country, followed by very low temperatures. Those conditions could cause “dangerous travel and infrastructure impacts” to linger for several days, the National Weather Service (NWS) said.
Heavy snow was forecast from the Ohio Valley to the Northeast, while “catastrophic ice accumulation” threatened from the Lower Mississippi Valley to the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast.
“Tampa Electric is a member of the Southeastern Electric Exchange, or SEE, a mutual-aid network of utilities who provide trained crews and equipment to one another in case of a storm or other emergency. Crews supporting the restoration efforts of other utilities are paid by the host utility,” the TECO news release said.
While many Southern states will get some of the messy conditions involving sleet and snow, Florida should avoid most of that. But NWS forecasters at Jacksonville International Airport are projecting extremely cold temperatures in North Florida and temperatures could drop into the low 20s and wind chills in the upper teens in areas of the First Coast west to Florida’s Panhandle.
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Material from the Associated Press was used in this report.