TRINTY, AL (WHNT) – Nine linemen from Joe Wheeler Electric Co-op will be heading to Live Oak Florida Thursday morning to aid in Hurricane relief.

Hurricane Idalia made landfall near Keaton Beach on the Big Bend of Florida early Wednesday morning as a major hurricane. This tropical system will continue to track further off to the northeast but it will leave behind catastrophic damage across the Southeast.

North Alabama Red Cross on the ground in Florida

The linemen from Joe Wheeler will be aiding Suwannee Valley Electric Co-op, which serves nearly 29-thousand customers across four counties in northern Florida. The nine men will be taking two bucket trucks, two diggers, and a pickup truck to assist in the work they will do.

Once they arrive in Florida, as long as the water has receded and debris is cleared, they will get right to work. Their main focus will be on getting main lines back on, picking up three-phase lines, and working on transformers.

It’s hard to kind of imagine the destruction you see until you actually get down there and see it. Just the destruction and the damage these people will endure.

Zak Latham, Lead Lineman

Many of them have been involved with other natural disaster aid efforts in the past from ice storms to tornadoes. The younger guys are able to learn from those who have been through events like this, especially since no natural disaster is the same.

Zak and his team will be in Florida until power has been restored to customers. This time can vary and in the past, it had lasted two weeks while Katrina lasted a month.