Columbia Water and Light linemen restore power in Florida

Eight Columbia Water and Light linemen are taking the day off Sunday after spending almost two weeks in Jacksonville, Florida, restoring power for residents after Hurricane Matthew. More than 1 million Florida residents lost power when the hurricane hit. The Columbia volunteers were on their way to Florida on Oct. 5 with trucks and equipment. The linemen worked 17-hour days with only seven hours off. Columbia Water and Light spokesperson Connie Kacprowicz provided some social media post responses after the linemen helped the Florida residents. “We are a resident of Jacksonville, FL that your linemen are helping,” a resident said in one post. “My home has not had electric in over 5 days and your guys are the only ones we have seen in our neighborhood. We really appreciate your service.” The Florida Municipal Electric Association said in a post “thank you for all the well wishes to those of us in Florida with Hurricane Matthew. And an even bigger thank you to those of you that have sent crews our way to assist in restoration efforts.” Kacprowicz said in an email that “a mutual aid program allows utility workers to help during widespread outages in other communities.” Columbia Water and Light pays the salaries of the linemen and will be reimbursed by the utilities for which work was performed.