Hurricane Florence: South Central Power sends 11 linemen to aid eastern NC

LANCASTER - A local power company sent nearly a dozen linemen to help restore power on the North Carolina coast.

Eleven linemen from South Central Power Company were sent to Fayetteville, N.C. in the wake of Hurricane Florence, which tore through the North Carolina coast over the weekend. According to company spokesman Mark Owen, the workers are among dozens of personnel from Ohio electric co-ops who will help restore power in the area.

South Central linemen are aiding the South River EMC service territory. After leaving Friday morning, they arrived and began working on Saturday afternoon. Although Owen said linemen are often willing to stay anywhere while working in the aftermath of storms, they're currently staying in a hotel in Dunn, N.C. while restoring power. They're also working 16-hour days to get power restored as quickly and safely as possible, Owen added.

As of Friday afternoon, South River EMS had reported 23,000 of its members without power, as numbers increased, according to a press release from South Central Power.

"One of our guiding principles is what we call cooperation among cooperatives, and co-ops coming to each other's aid in times of need is nothing new," Rick Lemonds, South Central president and CEO, said in a prepared statement. "When we heard that our co-op friends in North Carolina needed our help, we didn't hesitate to answer the call. I can only imagine the devastating impact that Hurricane Florence has had on the folks in North Carolina."

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Lemonds went on to say he wished them well and wanted them to know help is there.

According to Owen, the company's linemen will stay in Fayetteville as long as they're needed, assuming everything goes smoothly in the Buckeye state, and they could stay there a week or longer. The situation, he added, continues to be quickly changing and if they're able to make better progress and get power restored, they'll be headed home sooner.

South Central Power has customers in Fairfield, Ross, Pike and other surrounding counties.