After five long days helping people impacted by Hurricane Matthew, crews from Middle Tennessee Electric returned home to Murfreesboro.
A total of 13 people from the company worked along the St. John’s River in Keystone Heights, Florida. They returned home Tuesday night. Their primary mission was to help restore power, clear trees, repair broken poles and string new lines. They worked long days, and in tough conditions.
“We were wading in water up to our hips,” said Jesse Cunningham, one of the members of Middle Tennessee Electric to make the trip. “We were watching for snakes and alligators. We dealt with a lot of elements, but we were victorious.”
The Middle Tennessee Electric crews were joined by more than 80 volunteers from cooperatives across the state. They assisted the Clay Electric Cooperative from Florida.
Crews said when they arrived there were 80,000 people in the area without power, and when they left everything was restored.
“The kids were able to go to school today,” said Cunningham. “They thought they would be out a couple of weeks, but we got the lights on. People were thanking us again for coming down to help them out.”
Middle Tennessee Electric Membership Corporation provides electricity to more than 214,000 residential and business members in Williamson, Wilson, Rutherford, Cannon and surrounding counties.
