Entergy crews travel to Florida for Milton assistance

Beaumont/Jacksonville — Milton is set to make landfall late Wednesday into early Thursday.

Floridians are making plans to leave, but Entergy crews from Texas have traveled in to stay.

“So we actually left the Beaumont area around midday Tuesday of last week. We headed to help with the power restoration efforts in Virginia. We helped get those restoration efforts wrapped up only to know that well Milton’s coming and Florida needs help,” says Paul Blackburn, the customer service manager of Entergy networks in Beaumont and Dayton.

Staged in Jacksonville, just a few hours away from the storm’s predicted eye, the linemen are finalizing preparations.

Almost 300 Entergy employees will be assisting Duke Electric with power restoration.

“Provided their, this company’s transmission holds, their power delivery methods hold, it’s just about getting poles up and getting lines back in, right? So a bulk of the customer should be back up within a few days, maybe a week,” says Blackburn.

The crews are prepared for what could be total devastation by the massive storm and will stay in Florida as long as needed for recovery.

KFDM/Fox 4’s Mya Caleb reports.