As the 2024 hurricane season continues, CenterPoint Energy is focused on helping other utility companies in need of mutual aid support. The morning of Oct. 9, 50 CenterPoint workers boarded busses in Houston to first retrieve company trucks and equipment from crews assisting with Hurricane Helene restoration efforts in the Carolinas. (See a photo slideshow from CenterPoint Energy's Facebook page on Oct. 10).
Next, those team members will be heading to pre-staged locations in and around Florida to prepare for efforts likely to be needed after Hurricane Milton makes landfall. Restoration efforts in the hardest-hit areas may take several days or longer.
Also, on Oct. 9, nearly 300 additional CenterPoint workers and contractors from Houston and Evansville, Indiana are headed directly to pre-staged areas in Florida to help support the effort, bringing the total mutual aid contingent to nearly 350 personnel.
For the last two weeks, at peak, 300 CenterPoint’s frontline workers and contractors have been in Florida, Georgia and the Carolinas providing mutual aid assistance in some of the hardest-hit regions from Hurricane Helene. The remaining team members are returning home from out of state today.
“We are proud of our team members and contractors who have been in Florida and the Carolinas for the last two weeks supporting the power restoration efforts in the wake of Hurricane Helene,” said Darin Carroll, senior vice president of Electric Business. “They have been doing around-the-clock heroic work and we are grateful for their dedication and perseverance. We look forward to welcoming them home.”
“Additionally, we always answer the call when our peer companies in other parts of the country make these requests. Hurricane Milton is another one of those opportunities to help others. It’s who we are as individuals and as an industry. We want to thank all our team members heading out today and know they will make us proud. As those colleagues support restoration efforts, we remain prepared and ready to respond to any operational needs in our electric service territories in Houston and Evansville,” concluded Carroll.
CenterPoint is a proud supporter of the mutual assistance program, which is a hallmark of the utility industry and serves as an effective — and critical — restoration resource. As always, the safety of customers, communities, and crews is a top priority during any power restoration process.
