PHOENIX — Crews from Arizona Public Service (APS) are going to Florida to help restore power following the destruction brought about by Milton.
The storm plowed into the state as a Category 3 storm Wednesday, pounding cities with winds of over 100 mph (160 kph) after producing a barrage of tornadoes.
The Associated Press reported that more than 2 million homes and businesses were without power in Florida, according to poweroutage.us, which tracks utility reports.
APS crews from across Arizona will help rebuild the electric grid.
"Thirty APS employees, including lineworkers and support crewmembers from Phoenix, Yuma, Douglas, Casa Grande, Payson, Snowflake, Flagstaff, Wickenburg, Cottonwood and Prescott loaded up their bucket trucks and hit the road Thursday morning, Oct. 10," APS said in a news release.
The APS crews will arrive in Florida on Saturday. They will likely be there for around a month.
APS Construction Maintenance Supervisor Robert Houle is leading the Arizona crews to Florida.
“Our mission is more than reconnecting wires – it’s rebuilding resilience and relighting the path to recovery for communities who lost everything,” said Houle.
He said the focus is on helping people even though he knows the days will be long and strenuous.
"It’s rewarding to be a part of this effort, getting essential infrastructure back up so people and businesses can get back on their feet," said Houle.
He said others would do the same for people in Arizona if the need was to arise.
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