Two powerline maintainers with E.L.K. Energy are on their way to Florida to assist in restoring power to those impacted by Hurricane Helene, and Hurricane Milton.
The two individuals will be assisting Florida Power and Light (FPL) in restoring power to those impacted by Hurricane Helene - which made landfall on Sept. 26 on Florida's Gulf coast as a category 4.
They will also be assisting with those impacted by Hurricane Milton, which started to hit the Tampa Bay area in Florida on Wednesday night as a category 3 hurricane.
As of 8 p.m. on Wednesday, Milton's damaging winds cut power to hundreds of thousands of Floridians - with more than 500,000 homes and businesses in the state without power, according to PowerOutage.us.
Sherry Bondy, E.L.K. Board Chair, says they're very proud to be able to assist in this effort.
"Just recently last year when we had that ice storm, we had power out for several days, we relied on mutual aid from other out of town companies as well. So this is something that we want to look at in the future, being able to give back when we can share resources, because you never know when we're next with a storm or a tragic event."
She says every person willing to help makes a big difference.
"Sometimes people have been without power for two, three, four days, they're losing their appliances, or people with medical issues, it's really something that takes an entire village or a country to come together."
Bondy says she thanks everyone - including the families - who are helping.
"It is a big sacrifice from our families. And it's not just E.L.K. that's going down, we have Entegrus, we have Essex Powerlines, Bluewater Power, ERTH, and so a whole bunch of us locally are going down. So I also appreciate the sacrifices that our families in our region are making to have their family members go down and help."
The powerline maintainers from E.L.K. Energy will join crews from Entegrus, Essex Powerlines, Bluewater Power, and ERTH Power as part of a coordinated mutual aid response and will work alongside crews from across North America.
Bondy says the two individuals from E.L.K. who are helping are expected to be in Florida for approximately three weeks.