Utility crews from across the country ready to restore power after Hurricane Dorian
CLEARWATER, Fla. - Bucket trucks filled staging areas throughout Florida on Sunday as power companies mobilized to assist with Hurricane Dorian fallout.
"Duke Energy has actually not let our guard down despite all the different forecast predictions," said Ana Gibbs, a spokesperson with Duke Energy.
There are more than 20 power staging stations organized across the state as caravans of power crews from 34 states converged upon Florida to prepare for hurricane aid. Those staging stations include Clearwater, the Daytona Speedway and Wildwood, near The Villages.
"Our meteorologists now only predict the storm, they have to determine how it's going to impact our infrastructure. With that type of prediction, we then have to decide how close we can get to the storm to deploy our crews most quickly and safely to wherever the hardest hit areas are," said Gibbs.
Dalton Waldroup, who took video of trucks lined up in Wildwood, said he drove into Florida from northern Georgia on Saturday night.
“Power lines crews from all over the country are showing up to stage, check in, and get breifed [sic] with safety regulations,” Waldroup said.
The National Hurricane Center said Sunday that Dorian is the strongest hurricane in modern records on track to hit the Bahamas.