Mutual Aid After Irma: KCP&L Restores Primary in Florida

The story of just about any post-hurricane power restoration is a story of mutual assistance, including scores of utility crews from around the country who leave house and home to travel long distances to help hurricane-struck customers get the power back on.  
 
Kansas City Power & Light (KCP&L) sent multiple crews to Florida in the wake of Hurricane Irma, staging in areas both on the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts. T&D World caught up with a crew in the Punta Gorda area (Gulf Coast / SW) that was restoring a road-side three-phase primary.  
 
We also drove down U.S. 1 to the Florida Keys on the next day, the first day Keys residents were allowed back to see their homes and businesses. While debris was piled up along roadsides and smaller wooden distribution poles were down, much of the Keys is served by tall, sturdy steel transmission poles that held up quite well. We made it to Islamorada before being turned back by the oncoming nightly curfew.