Crews from across North America work to restore power after Helene
By Justin Berger
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WEAVERVILLE, North Carolina (WLOS) — Power crews from all over continue working to turn the lights on; the footprint of this cleanup stretches far beyond North Carolina.
Nearly 1,000 miles from home, Sheldon Waterman was in Weaverville on Monday, Oct. 7, working to restore power.
“It’s not uncommon to see everyone just pitch in. We’re all here for the same reason,” he said.
Waterman is the operations manager for T&T Line Construction.
Except for people living in Ontario or New Brunswick, Canada, no one has probably ever heard of them.
“We get the ice storms in the winter in Canada, we get the hurricanes down here,” he said. “It’s wind, rain, you name it, sleet.”
Waterman and his team have traveled up and down the East Coast, working from city to city, turning people’s lights on following storms.
“Wherever the call is,” he said. “This one has been the most unique for me – widespread, probably one of the biggest I’ve seen in a large area, and [the] magnitude of damage of poles and property and roads, infrastructure, it’s unbelievable.”
It goes both ways.
“We have companies from here [the U.S.] that come to assist. It’s a mutual aid thing,” Waterman said.
Waterman currently has 11 crews in North Carolina working.
A News 13 crew also observed several crews from Quebec working on downed lines in Woodfin on Monday.
“I think when people come in and want to help from all over, that’s wonderful,” said Sabine Carender, a Weaverville resident. “We take them.”
Carender is still waiting for her power to come back on. She says she moved to the mountains in 2007 in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
“[This] reminded me of the flooding in New Orleans,” she said.
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