The crews from a locally based electrical contractor continue to put in some very long days as they work to help restore power in the wake of Hurricane Ian.
At one point, around 300 personnel from Victor-based O’Connell Electric were in Florida, helping with repairs to infrastructure along with many other contractors and utilities as they restored power after Ian knocked out service to millions of people.
Dave Emmi is a Vice President with O’Connell, and he’s just back from checking on his crews. He said that some of them have returned but others will be down there another 3 or 4 weeks.
Emmi said it’s very hard work, with the crews working 16, or even 18 hour days at times. But Emmi said that residents of the affected areas are often very grateful when they see the power line workers in their neighborhoods.
“Actually we had some kids yesterday come up to the trucks while they were parked waiting to go onto a barge,” Emmi said. “And they had made signs that they were sticking to the windows on the side of the truck that said, ‘Thank you for coming, you’re nice men, thanks for help,’ and it was pretty cute, so that’s just one example of the outreach from local communities.”
O’Connell’s crews have been in some of the areas hardest hit by the hurricane.
“Fort Myers, Naples, Sanibel Island, Captiva, they’re all unrecognizable. And it’s really a shame. You think what those looked like a month ago and right now, there’s buildings that are completely gone, there’s infrastructure that’s lying on the ground,” Emmi said.
