FLORIDA, USA — As Elsa makes its way ashore, utility companies like Duke Energy say things should be fine in the Triad.
Although there are many line workers assisting in Florida, there are still plenty of crews here to cover this community.
"Our Florida territory will be the hardest hit, most likely, just because of the strength of the storm as it comes ashore, so we have sent about 400 contract line workers and support personnel from the Carolinas down to assist our local crews down in Florida," said Jeff Brooks, a spokesperson for Duke Energy, "We're dealing with Mother Nature. She's unpredictable and we have to make adjustments to that plan as we see the storm come through and we see the impacts of the storm."
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Brooks said they're happy to help, given the number of times crews from other states assisted in our own following hurricanes and severe storms.
He said they're not expecting big outages this time around, but are prepared for whatever comes our way, now, and for the rest of the hurricane season. Part of that preparedness means strengthening the Triad's power grid
"[We're] looking at areas that we have seen reliability issues on an ongoing basis and trying to address those - maybe upgrading poles and wires, or replacing some power outage prone lines and put them under ground," Brooks said, "Also, [we've] installed self healing technology and other advancements across the system on those main power lines that serve all parts of our cities they are in the Triad."
Brooks said around 1,000 linemen are in the eastern part of North Carolina on standby for the storm, with several hundred located in the Triad.
