Hometown electric line crews from four rural Missouri towns are driving to Louisiana on this Thursday evening. They’ll perform recovery work after Hurricane Delta hits.
Linemen from western Missouri’s Harrisonville stop for a quick picture, before leaving for Louisiana in the early-morning hours of October 8, 2020 (photo courtesy of city of Harrisonville)
The Weather Channel reports hurricane warnings have been issued for much of southwest Louisiana, which was hammered by Hurricane Laura several weeks ago. Governor John Bel Edwards says Hurricane Laura destroyed 10,000 homes and caused major damage to 35,000 others. The governor says the electrical infrastructure in southwest Louisiana is still being repaired, from Laura.
Hurricane Delta is expected to bring life-threatening storm surges to the Gulf coast.
The Missouri Public Utility Alliance (MPUA) says the Missouri crews heading to Louisiana are from Harrisonville, Nixa, Palmyra and Poplar Bluff. Harrisonville is south of Kansas City, while Nixa is located south of Springfield. Palmyra is in northeast Missouri, and Poplar Bluff is in southeast Missouri.
The four towns have public power utilities.
The Missouri line workers will respond to power outages once the storm passes. The town of Alexandria, Louisiana issued a call to the MPUA for mutual aid assistance.
The four Missouri towns are sending a combined 14 lineworkers. They will stage in Alexandria and are equipped with four bucket trucks, another specialty truck and other linework vehicles and machines.
Alexandria, which is northwest of New Orleans, is Louisiana’s ninth-largest city.
The National Hurricane Center expects Delta to reach southwest Louisiana on Friday morning, and move inland on Friday and Saturday.
In August and September, 24 Missouri lineworkers representing six other Missouri hometown utilities assisted Alexandria, following Hurricane Laura.
The mutual aid assistance is coordinated through MPUA’s mutual aid network, and assisting towns are reimbursed by the municipal utilities receiving assistance.
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