Alabama Power Co. today sent 182 contract linemen to help restore power to homes and businesses in ice-storm ravaged Arkansas.

They will join 100 tree crew personnel who left Tuesday to help Entergy with its power restoration work.

On Thursday, Alabama Power will send another 150 crew personnel from the Birmingham and Mobile Divisions to help. They are engineers, line crewmen, and logistics personnel.

Company managers decided to send crews to help again in Arkansas since the storm did not threaten Alabama or the rest of the Southern Co. systems.

Arkansas has been hit by two ice storms in less than two weeks. Alabama Power had sent approximately 600 crew members to help in the earlier storms. Some of those crews were called back to help restore power after the tornado tore through Tuscaloosa County and other areas of Alabama last week.

Alabama Power Co., based in Birmingham, is a division of Atlanta-based Southern Co., the largest producer of electricity in the United States.

SOURCE: Alabama Power Co.