While some people on the East Coast are evacuating in anticipation of Hurricane Sandy, over 240 ComEd crews from the Chicago area on their way to help with the power outages expected to accompany the powerful storm.
"When we have a bad storm here, like last year, we had a number of crews from different states on our system helping us to restore customers and we are committed to do the same, " said Chief Operating Officer for ComEd Terry Donnelly on Saturday morning as crews were h
More than 700 crew members are heading to the East Coast to help with the power outages that could accompany the powerful storm. The ComEd employees will aid their sister utilities, PECO in Philadelphia and Baltimore Gas & Electric with power restoration efforts following the storm.
Many members said they don't know when they are expected to return, but some said they guessed it could be anywhere from two to three weeks depending on how much damage Sandy leaves behind.
"You pull down a street the electrical poles and roofs are laying right down in the street you almost look at it and say where do i start and you just start from the beginning," said ComEd Lineman Peter Jonites, who estimates this is his fifth or sixth time helping an area affected by devastation.
Crews will head to Ohio, where the will spend the night. On Sunday, crews will be split up with half going to Baltimore while the other half heads to Pennsylvania. Once in place, they will focus their efforts on restoring power and services to east coast customers as quickly and safely as possible after Hurricane Sandy passes.
Hurricane Sandy was briefly downgraded to a Tropical Storm early Saturday, but hurricane-strength winds were detected just a few ours later, according to an NBC News report.
States of emergency have been declared from North Carolina to New York as Sandy continues to barrel north after killing 41 people in the Caribbean, NBC News reported.
