Forty JEA crew members climbed into trucks Saturday morning and rolled out of Jacksonville bound for Alabama, where Hurricane Isaias had knocked out power to hundreds of thousands of people. Six electric line distribution crews made up the deployment, sent to help restore service after the storm tore through the Gulf Coast the night before.
The storm made landfall around 8:30 p.m. Friday on Florida's Gulf Coast as a strong Category 2 hurricane before weakening into a post-tropical cyclone by early Saturday, according to News4JAX. The National Hurricane Center said the risk of flash flooding remained through the weekend, per the same report. JEA spokesperson Myers Vasquez said the crews would convoy south to help a local public power utility and its community get the lights back on quickly.
The workers mobilized and departed directly from JEA's two service centers Saturday morning, according to Action News Jax. Public power utilities can request mutual aid from other communities during times of need, and that is exactly the arrangement that sent Jacksonville's linemen across state lines this weekend.
A Change of Plans Mid-Trip
The crews originally planned to help Riviera Utilities restore power in Daphne, Alabama. But those plans shifted once it became clear the needs were greater elsewhere — the convoy was redirected to Dothan and Evergreen instead, the station reported. Vasquez said the deployment could last anywhere from a few days to a full week, depending on what those communities need once crews arrive.
Dothan's power troubles were significant even before JEA's trucks left Jacksonville. About 25,000 Dothan Utilities customers lost power as Isaias moved across the Wiregrass region, according to WDHN. City officials said restoring service to every customer could take several days, and the station noted that fallen trees, downed power lines and other debris had blocked several roadways in the area. Dothan Utilities said it was working to restore service as safely and efficiently as possible.
Riviera Utilities Still Digging Out
Down in Daphne and the surrounding Riviera Utilities service area — the crews' original destination — the storm left its own trail of damage. The utility reported widespread outages with numerous downed power lines, fallen trees and storm-related damage, according to Fox10 News. About 13,000 meters remained without service there, though 16,417 meters had already been restored as of 9 p.m. Friday, per the same report.
More than 100 contract lineworkers were already on-site helping Riviera Utilities crews, with additional mutual-aid teams on standby if needed, Fox10 News reported. Riviera Utilities said restoration work would prioritize repairs that bring power back to the greatest number of customers first. Crews there had also restored natural-gas service to the affected system in Gulf Shores and stood ready to help customers relight and restore their own service.
Not JEA's First Trip to Alabama
This is not the first time JEA has sent help to Riviera Utilities. The Jacksonville utility previously dispatched 26 crew members and three fleet-support personnel to assist Riviera Utilities in restoring electric infrastructure in Foley, Alabama, according to JEA. The utility has signed mutual-aid agreements with utilities in Florida and Georgia, and its crews will travel beyond the region to help when a storm is destructive enough and local crews aren't needed at home.
JEA's mutual-aid history stretches back further still. In October 2017, 85 JEA personnel spent seven weeks in Puerto Rico helping rebuild the island's electric infrastructure after Hurricane Maria. Earlier that same year, JEA sent eight crews to Albany, Georgia, after tornadoes damaged buildings and brought down trees on power lines across the city, according to JEA's mutual aid records.
