“Thousands” of linemen are headed to Florida ahead of the arrival of Hurricane Helene, which could make landfall as a major storm — Category 3 or higher.
“We’re here in TECO energy in Tampa,” Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a Wednesday morning press conference. “They’re staging a lot of linemen for the upcoming storm, and we continue to have thousands of linemen pouring into the state.”
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“They’re being amassed, and then, obviously, once the storm passes, they will go and work on power restoration. It is anticipated that there is going to be power outages, so folks have an opportunity to plan for that,” DeSantis said ahead of the 11 a.m. National Hurricane Center (NHC) forecast, which showed Helene officially strengthening into a hurricane and warning of widespread impacts.
“Devastating hurricane-force winds are expected across portions of northern Florida and southern Georgia here the core of Helene moves inland,” NHC warned.
“Because of Helen’s expected fast forward speed, damaging and life-threatening wind gusts are expected to penetrate well inland over portions of the southeastern United States, including in the higher terrain of the southern Appalachians,” it continued.
“We’re proud to be here at TECO, I know that Floridians have come to really appreciate seeing those trucks coming into the state with the linemen prior to hurricanes. And they love the fact that the storm passes and you have immediately people going out to try to get the power back on as quickly as possible. That’s not the way it works in every state in this country, mind you,” DeSantis said during the press conference, noting that the TECO utility company is proactive, but he has been speaking with other companies as well.
“I’ve been speaking with the electrical co-ops, the municipal cooperatives — you name it,” he said. “They’re all hands on deck.”
DeSantis said his team, along with the Kevin Guthrie, Executive Director for the Florida Division of Emergency Management, have “marshaled a significant number of resources.”
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Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office /TMX“They are filling requests from the counties for supplies on everything from vehicles to tarps to generators as well as additional personnel,” he said.
“As I mentioned, we have thousands of additional linemen pouring into the state. I think we got up to 18,000 yesterday. That number will continue to increase throughout today,” the governor added.
DeSantis is no stranger to hurricane preparations and has become widely known through the years for his team’s remarkable hurricane response, quickly building bridges and restoring power with tens of thousands of linemen at a quick pace in the wake of the storm-induced devastation.
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