© 2024 University of Missouri - KBIA
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Columbia electric linemen help restore power after Hurricane Sandy

The Birkes
/
Flickr

Over 200,000 homes are still without power in Rockaway Township, NJ, after Hurricane Sandy hit the East Coast on October 29.

Andrew Smith, an employee of the City of Columbia Water and Light Department, is in New Jersey restoring power lines with 12 City of Columbia employees.

Smith says that the Columbia electric linemen helped restore power in Cleveland, Ohio for eight days before being sent to repair lines in New Jersey.

The linemen have a 30 mile commute to Rockaway Township every morning from Allentown, PA, which is the closest city with power.

Smith says the electric linemen are starting to make a difference.

“We’ve restored power yesterday, I think we got on like 2 or 3 hundred yesterday and today we’ve got a pretty good size neighborhood on. So we just got done with that and we’ve just moved on to another job and getting ready to get some more peoples lights on here," said Smith.

The linemen are expected to return in approximately three weeks.