Courtesy photos
Jared Hoefelman, foreground, and Joe Hubenka, of Loup Power District’s Humphrey office, are in Florida to help with the damage from Hurricane Irma. They were part of the Loup crews that volunteered to travel to Florida to help restore power. Here they are pictured clearing electrical lines from trees.
Loup Public Power workers from around the state spent two weeks in Florida helping residents recover from Hurricane Irma. Safety was key as workers had to work in flooded areas.
This note was left on Jared Hoefelman’s truck, showing how grateful Florida residents are to have utility workers restore power to their homes and businesses.
Turning the power back on
The hours were long, and the damage was worse than anything they had seen before, but a couple of Loup Power District utilitymen were glad to lend a hand.
Joe Hubenka and Jared Hoefelman, of Loup Power District’s Humphrey office, are finishing up a two-week stint in Florida to help clean up with the damage from Hurricane Irma.
Fourteen Loup Power District employees left early Sept. 9 to aid Florida utilities impacted by Hurricane Irma this weekend.
They traveled to Lincoln and joined with crews from Lincoln Electric System (LES) and City of Grand Island before making their way to Paducah, Ky., by last Saturday evening. The crews stayed in Montgom-
ery, Ala., Sunday evening.
Hoefelman said they drove through a tropical storm from Alabama to Tallahassee.
The American Public Power Association and Florida Municipal Power Agency coordinated the power relief efforts.
“We spent the first three days in Tallahassee, Fla., and then we headed to Ocala, Fla., and we’ve been here ever since,” Hoefelman said. “There was about 70 percent of the town out (of power).”
Ocala has a population of 59,253, as of 2016 figures. As of Sunday evening, there were only 2000 remaining without . , power
He said their job has been to repair all the downed lines and get electricity restored as quickly as possible.
“There’s just so many trees in Tallahassee and in Ocala. A lot of big oak trees came down and broke lines and transformers. We’ve been in some pretty swampy areas, too,” Hoefelman said.
The crews are on the job by 6 a.m. each morning and finish up at 10 p.m., and then back at it the next day.
There are two crews from Loup, totaling 13 workers, along with 14 from LES and four from Grand Island.
Hoefelman said residents have treated the utility workers well, in fact, one resident left a note on his truck thanking him and all the workers for their efforts.
“We’ve been in some pretty rough areas,” he said. “The windows are barred up.”
Of course, electricity and water don’t mix, so Hoefelman said safety was a priority.
“It’s important to stay safe and make sure everything grounded. It’s nice to be working with a good group of guys. Everyone is double checking each other ” he said.
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There are other health issues, too, he said, such as banana spiders, which sit in trees, and measure about 4-inches in diameter, rattle snakes and cotton mouth snakes and alligators.
“They got a little bit of everything down here,” he said, even though Hoefelman hasn’t dealt with any of that, other workers have.
Hoefelman said Loup asked for volunteers, and he thought it would be a rare experience to help people.
“The only thing we see around home are ice storms and animals that cause outages,” he said. “It’s a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”