PLAINFIELD, Ind. — Duke Energy scrapped the plan to send local crews and contractors in Florida to help with the aftermath of damaging storms that ripped through Indiana this week.
In an update Friday night, leaders with the electric company explain because of the restoration progress of crews and contractors, the extra help is no longer needed.
The company was originally going to send 200 line workers, tree professionals and support personnel to safe locations in its Midwest service areas.
The crews were supposed to hit the road around 5 a.m. on Saturday.
Storms that blew through portions of the Midwest on Thursday brought winds as high as 90 miles an hour resulting in more than 202,000 power outages, the release explains. Around 94,200 are still reportedly without power as of 7 a.m. Friday.
There were reported outages in nearly all of the 28 districts of Duke Energy services in the state – with most being in the western and south-central parts.
An assessment to determine the full scope of damage is ongoing, according to the company.
“We are bringing in a small army to supplement our statewide workforce and speed power restoration,” Duke Energy Indiana President Stan Pinegar said in a statement. “Our priority is always to restore service as quickly and safely as possible, and we appreciate our customers’ patience.
"We’re also keeping an eye on the weather because there’s the potential for more storms that could hamper restoration.”
Workers were brought in from Ohio and Kentucky along with the Carolinas.
“We are seeing large numbers of broken poles, trees in power lines and spans of wire down,” Pinegar said in the statement. “We also had damage on our electric transmission system, which includes power lines and structures that are our major carriers of power.”
