Two Carthage Water & Electric Plant linemen, with a CW&EP bucket truck, won’t be at some of the utility’s events celebrating Public Power Week this week, but they have an excused absence.
Journeymen Linemen James Pittman and John Amershek are joining hundreds of other electrical workers from across the country to help with the reconstruction after Hurricane Michael slammed ashore in the Florida Panhandle as a Category 4 storm.
CW&EP said the linemen arrived in Mobile, Ala., late Tuesday and waited in a staging area in the Florida capital, Tallahassee, through Wednesday as Michael made landfall.
They were to start working to repair the damaged electrical system on Thursday, according to Meagan Milliken, with CW&EP.
The Missouri Public Utility Alliance said crews from nine Missouri cities and one Arkansas city were part of a contingent of workers from this area responding to the devastating storm.
“The combined response of 47 lineworkers involves crews from the Missouri cities of Carthage, Columbia, Hannibal, Higginsville, Independence, Macon, Nixa, Poplar Bluff, and Waynesville,” the MPUA said in a written release. “They are also joined by a crew from Conway, Arkansas. The workers will stage in Tallahassee, equipped with eight bucket trucks, seven digger trucks, and 11 other linework vehicles, ready to restore power to Florida municipal utilities in affected areas after the storm passes. Municipal utility workers from other states are also on the road to Florida to assist in hurricane recovery efforts.”
The MPUA said preparedness coordinators for the Florida Municipal Electric Association issued a call to the Missouri group for mutual aid assistance on October 7.
CW&EP is celebrating Public Power Week, Oct. 7 – Oct. 13, along with more than 2,000 other community-owned, not-for-profit electric utilities that collectively provide electricity to 48 million Americans.
Public Power Week celebrates the reliable, affordable electricity CW&EP provides to our community. Public power puts the people of Carthage first, and Public Power Week gives us the chance to emphasize the advantages of locally grown, locally grown, locally owned power to our families and friends.
About the Missouri Public Utility Alliance (MPUA):
The Missouri Public Utility Alliance is a multi-state association of more than 120 city-owned electric, water, gas, wastewater, and broadband utilities in Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, and Kansas. MPUA provides support to its members in the areas of electric and natural gas supply, water and wastewater compliance, financing, safety training, federal and state advocacy, and utility operations. MPUA also coordinates mutual aid disaster assistance for municipal utilities in Missouri and Arkansas.
