Intercounty sends workers to the South after Hurricane Helene hits

Nearly 200 Missouri lineworkers  — including 10 workers from Intercounty Electric Cooperative at Licking — have answered the call to help fellow electric cooperatives in need. Teams from 30 electric cooperatives left Missouri on Friday to assist two Georgia electric cooperatives that have more than 80% of their members without power due to damage from Hurricane Helene.

Intercounty sent two construction crews and one maintenance crew, said Heather Kidwell, director of communications for Intercounty.

The 197 Missouri lineworkers will join thousands of other lineworkers and personnel from across the cooperative family to fix the unprecedented damage Helene delivered in the Southeast, which left more than 1.15 million electric cooperative members in the dark, as of Friday afternoon. The teams will assess the damage and work to assign resources as efficiently as possible, while prioritizing safety in this dangerous environment.

“When anyone in our electric cooperative family is in need, Missouri is only a call away,” said Caleb Jones, CEO of Missouri Electric Cooperatives.

Repairs could take weeks in the aftermath the Category 4 hurricane, which made landfall late Thursday in northwest Florida. Torrential rains and winds of 140 mph ripped down lines, uprooted trees and flooded coastal areas. Though Helene weakened to tropical storm status as it moved through Georgia, damage in the state was still brutal.

Missouri’s electric cooperatives have a long history of lending a helping hand to its cooperative peers in trying times. It is an example of the sixth principle that guides electric cooperatives, which is cooperation among cooperatives. Missouri crews first helped with hurricane relief efforts in 2004 when the Gulf Coast was hit by Hurricane Ivan and have been doing so since. Their most recent deployment responding to a hurricane was in 2021 when crews traveled to Louisiana following Hurricane Ida.

The favor has been returned, as Missouri co-ops received assistance restoring power following ice storms in 2007 and 2009.

Missouri’s restoration efforts are being coordinated by the Association of Missouri Electric Cooperatives. The Jefferson City-based association represents all 47 of Missouri’s electric cooperatives. Learn more at www.amec.org

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