Omaha Public Power District is answering a call for additional power restoration support in the southeast. Hurricane Helene made landfall late Thursday night.
OPPD joins several other utilities from Nebraska that headed south in advance of the storm to pre-stage for restoration work. With 4 million electric customers in the dark as of Friday, a mutual aid request was extended to the Midwest Mutual Aid Group. OPPD made a team available to deploy, and Appalachian Power in Charleston, West Virginia took us up on that offer.
A 16-person mutual aid team hit the road early this morning, taking off from Nebraska City. The team consists of four three-person line crews, a member of our safety team, a supervisor and two transportation mechanics. They expect to reach Charleston by Sunday afternoon.
“Our employees were eager to help. Some of the Line Techs called me earlier in the week, asking when and where we were going,” said Eli Schiessler, OPPD Transmission & Distribution center manager.
“The work is extremely tough, but restoring power and helping out communities in need is why many of them chose this line of work.”
This is the third time this year OPPD has deployed to provide mutual aid to fellow utilities in need. We supported Evergy in the Kansas City area in January, as well as MidAmerican Energy in northern Iowa and ComEd in southern Illinois after powerful winds caused extensive damage to trees and power lines in mid-July. All three utilities returned the favor, coming to OPPD’s aid when more than 220,000 customers lost power in the historic July 31st storm.
“It’s extremely gratifying to pay it forward,” said Brian Kramer, senior director of Utilities Operation & Maintenance. “That’s what mutual aid is all about.”