Gulf Power’s storm-hardened crews are ready for action should the storm system threatening the Gulf of Mexico make landfall in Northwest Florida next week.
“We have a storm-tested plan and our crews stand at the ready should this storm threaten our service area,” said Jeff Rogers, spokesperson with Gulf Power. “Our crews are among the best in the nation at restoring power — we hope this system has little impact but we are prepared for the worst.”
Rogers said it's too early to predict exactly how the storm could impact Northwest Florida, but that Gulf Power crews have materials and equipment staged and ready should it make landfall in our area.
“Once the storm enters the Gulf of Mexico we’ll have a better idea of areas that may be at risk,” said Rogers. Needless to say, we are planning and preparing — every employee is ready to shift to their storm assignment.”
Despite the fact that Northwest Florida hasn’t experienced a major hurricane in more than 10 years, Gulf Power’s crews have had plenty of storm restoration practice — they’ve traveled more than 30 times since 2008 assisting power restoration efforts after storms such as Superstorm Sandy in 2012 and after the devastating tornadoes that hit Tuscaloosa, Alabama, in 2011.
“If this system does strengthen into a hurricane and makes landfall in our service area, our crews will work as quickly and as safely as possible to restore everyone’s power,” Rogers said.
How customers can connect with us:
• To get the latest updates on outages, customers can download Gulf Power’s app and access the outage map for the latest restoration information. The app is free and available for iPhone and Android. Just search for "Gulf Power" in iTunes or the Google Play Store.
• Customers can follow Gulf Power updates on Facebook or Twitter:
http://www.facebook.com/gulfpowercompany or http://www.twitter.com/gulfpower.
• Sign up for free Power Out alerts through your cell phone by texting REG to MyGulf (694853). Or, visit the Preference Center in the My Account area of MyGulfPower.com to choose whether to receive texts, emails or phone calls with outage updates.
• Gulf Power knows when your power is out. However, you can call 1-800-487-6937 if you have any questions about your outage.
Gulf Power is an investor-owned electric utility with all of its common stock owned by Atlanta-based Southern Company. Gulf Power serves more than 447,000 customers in eight counties throughout Northwest Florida. The company’s mission is to safely provide exceptional customer value by delivering reliable, affordable and environmentally responsible electricity while strengthening our communities. Visit online at MyGulfPower.com or on the company’s Facebook page. News information can be found at GulfPowerNews.com.
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