Now that Hurricane Laura has made landfall on the southwest Louisiana coast, Jackson EMC is sending some of the cooperative's contractors to the region to assist with power restoration.
Most of the 50 Jackson EMC contractors will be assisting Sam Houston Electric Cooperative, located in Livingston, Texas. Sam Houston Electric Cooperative serves approximately 56,000 members in parts of 10 counties.
Depending on what the needs are in the region, Jackson EMC will release other contractors, according to Jackson EMC spokeswoman April Sorrow.
"Jackson EMC regularly uses contractors for construction, maintenance and vegetation management. The contractors released to assist with restoration efforts in Texas are overhead line construction crews," Sorrow said in a press statement. "Contractor crews who perform vegetation management for Jackson EMC have also been released by the cooperative to assist with anticipated restoration efforts in Louisiana and Mississippi."
Sorrow said releasing crews for the hurricane will not impact the workforce needed for local jobs.
"A principle of co-ops is cooperation among cooperatives. Keeping with that principle, when asked and able, Jackson EMC provides fellow co-ops assistance with power restoration efforts following major outages," Sorrow said.
According to the Associated Press, the National Hurricane Center said Laura slammed the coast with winds of 150 mph (241 kph) at 1 a.m. CDT as a Category 4 hurricane near Cameron, a 400-person community about 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of the Texas border. At mid-morning, Laura was a Category 2 hurricane.
