GADSDEN, Ala. (AP) - A team of trained Alabama Power personnel left for Texas to help Houston-based CenterPoint Energy restore power after Hurricane Harvey damaged the city.
Twenty employees Wednesday took with them two airboats that include two Marsh Master track vehicles and jon boats, The Gadsden Times reports . The employees coordinated with local CenterPoint Energy crews in the Houston area who are working to repair damage to the grid caused by the storm.
“We are glad that we can help assist CenterPoint Energy and the people of Houston who are suffering from this disaster,” said Pam Boyd, Power Delivery Services general manager.
The equipment comes from Alabama Power’s Transmission and Environmental Affairs organizations.
Harvey produced an enormous amount of heavy rains on the east Texas Gulf Coast along with Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. In Houston, rivers continue to rise with more precipitation this weekend.
Floodwaters also toppled two oil storage tanks in South Texas, spilling almost 30,000 gallons (114,000 liters) of crude. It was not immediately clear whether any of the spilled oil was recovered. More damage to the oil industry infrastructure is expected to emerge as floodwaters recede.
Harvey initially came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane in Texas on Friday, then went back out to sea and lingered off the coast as a tropical storm for days, inundating flood-prone Houston.
Harvey’s five straight days of rain totaled close to 52 inches, the heaviest tropical downpour ever recorded in the continental U.S.
The Alabama Power team and equipment will help CenterPoint crews speed repairs in still-flooded, wet or marshy areas.
“Our thoughts and prayers are with the people of Houston and everyone along the Gulf Coast where Harvey has had such a terrible impact,” said Markell Heilbron, Environmental Affairs general manager
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Information from: The Gadsden Times, https://www.gadsdentimes.com
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