Hurricane Michael Response

Hurricane Michael Creates Devastation; Our Linemen Repair It

Hurricane Michael packed maximum sustained winds of 155 mph as it made landfall near Mexico Beach, Florida on October 10, 2018. The Category 4 storm was the first in recorded history to make landfall in the Florida Panhandle and the first Category 3 hurricane to hit Georgia since 1898.

The storm's heavy rain, high winds, and extreme storm surge caused massive destruction in its path and spawned numerous tornadoes. Thirty-five deaths have been attributed to Hurricane Michael in the United States.

“The devastation was the worst I have ever seen,” Lineman Kenny Batte said.

Electric cooperative line workers from Texas to the East Coast assisted with power restoration efforts for those in the path of Hurricane Michael. Eighteen electric cooperatives from Mississippi, including Dixie Electric responded to the call for help.

Cooperative Among Cooperatives is a principle that cooperatives were founded on and meets a critical need when disasters strike like Hurricane Michael.

On Monday, Oct. 15, Dixie Electric began sending linemen, apprentice linemen, engineers, substation technicians, supervisors, and others to assist with restoration at West Florida Electric Cooperative. These individuals worked for a week and then came home. Another group of employees would then travel to West Florida Electric.

On Sunday afternoon, Oct. 14, West Florida Electric reported that 22,500 of its 28,000 meters were without power. After two weeks of restoration efforts, the cooperative still had nearly 8,000 meters without service.

Dixie Electric is committed to supporting West Florida Electric and will continue to rotate personnel weekly until power is restored.

West Florida Electric

Hurricane Michael by the numbers

22,500 initial outages

8,567 power poles to be replaced

4,500 transformers to be replaced