Local electric company workers return home from hurricane relief
JACKSON, Tenn. — What’s better than doing what you love while also helping others? That’s how a crew from a local energy company says they felt after coming back from assisting people affected by Hurricane Florence.
“A lot of flooded streets, widespread tree damage, I mean, it was pretty catastrophic,” said Ben Cupples, lead lineman at Southwest Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation.
Ten linemen and truck operators from STEMC share their stories after spending almost two weeks assisting those affected by 
Hurricane Florence.
“And it just kept raining, kept raining, and all the side streets off the main highway were flooded,” Cupples said. “We were driving through water that was four feet deep everywhere we tried to go.”
The team left earlier this month, headed to Jacksonville, North Carolina. They describe driving into town as eerie.
“It always freaks me out, because we got there before the storm, so you’re rolling into these places and nobody is coming out. It’s like a ghost town,” said Drew Yancey, lineman at STEMC.
As soon as the worst of the storm had passed, they went right to work, pulling 16-hour shifts.
“For the first two or three days, it was cutting a lot of trees, pulling up wires, changing out poles,” Yancey said. “And then aside from that, we started working on smaller outages, single outages.”
The crew says even though it was hard work, they enjoy what they do, and they say residents of Jacksonville really love their linemen when the power is out.
“We all talk kind of country anyways,” Yancey said. “So they immediately noticed the accent and want to talk to you, know where you’re from, say thank you, and tell you how grateful they are that you’re here to help them.”
Team members arrived back in Jackson around 2:30 Monday afternoon. They say the heavy winds and massive amounts of rainfall left over 64,000 homes and businesses without power in Jacksonville. Thanks to their help, 84 percent of those members had their power restored.
