One hundred and forty Delmarva Power and Atlantic City Electric trucks are scheduled to leave the utility’s Newark-area headquarters and other sites today as odds increase for Hurricane Dorian to hammer a large portion of Florida.
Dorian is expected to intensify and could become a historic Category 4 hurricane when it hits the Florida coast over the Labor Day weekend. The storm’s potential has been compared, Hurricane Andrew. That storm created mass destruction in areas of south Florida.
Crews of the two Exelon utility companies respond to outages in the region under mutual aid agreements with utilities One trip took crews to Puerto as the island struggled to get the lights back after a powerful hurricane battered the U.S. Commonwealth.
“Energy companies from across the country have supported our responses to major storms here, and we are glad to return the favor,” said Gary Stockbridge, Delmarva Power region president. “We are proud of our dedicated employees and contractors who are answering the call for help to support what is expected to be a monumental restoration effort.”
Delmarva Power has been tracking Hurricane Dorian since it formed to ensure resources could be directed where and when they were needed. The company’s emergency preparedness teams work year-round to coordinate restoration efforts and share best practices to be ready for scenarios like Hurricane Dorian.
Delmarva and Atlantic City Electric have additional resources in responding to emergencies, due to the size of Exelon, which also owns PECO and BG&E.
At this time, crews are expected to be deployed for more than a week to restore power to residents and businesses in Florida. Crews will be assigned work locations following damage assessments completed by the local Florida energy companies.
Last year, Hurricane Michael caused extensive damage to the Florida Public Utilities system in northeastern Florida. Florida Public is owned by Dover-based Chesapeake Utilities.
