SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (Dakota News Now) – Midwesterners have been answering the call to serve in the aftermath of both hurricanes Helene and Milton.
The American Red Cross jumped into action to respond early on, but the number of volunteers has risen even higher since Hurricane Milton hit.
Meanwhile, the effort to restore power sent linemen from Xcel Energy to yet another area in the affected region.
Devastation, from one hurricane to another. In central Florida, all they could do was brace for it.
Xcel Energy already had crews in Georgia restoring power. Electric utilities have mutual aid agreements to support when they can and in the aftermath of Helene, they made their way southeast.
Xcel Energy is one of many who answered the call to help. Last week, Sioux Valley Electric sent crews to South Carolina.
Now their 40 linemen, eight from South Dakota and 32 from Minnesota will join crews from around the country to restore power in Florida.
“It’s important to understand that the folks in Tampa today, they don’t have electricity and electricity is vital to daily life, day in and day out. So anything that we can do as the electric industry and Xcel to help and restore that, you know, we’re honored to be able to go do that,” said Xcel Energy Vice President of Electric Distribution Todd Conner.
The American Red Cross has already sent trained volunteers in response to Hurricane Helene.
Volunteer David Schoeneck said that after Hurricane Milton, it might be the most volunteers deployed ever. Over 100 from the Minnesota and Dakotas region are serving in the southeast and that number continues to grow.
“It is absolutely amazing to watch literally as an organization of thousands of people being built to address a specific problem in a state or a county or a location overnight,” Schoeneck said.
Efforts from nonprofits like the Red Cross or companies like Xcel Energy make it clear they’re focused on the task at hand with empathy and expertise, the job of picking up the pieces will be just a little bit lighter for hurricane victims.
“There’s nothing more rewarding than to visit with someone who has just lost everything and to be able to offer them comfort and hope, and it’s because all of us are trained to the same standards, we understand our mission, we understand our jobs,” Schoeneck said.
“This is what our people are trained to do. This is what we do day in and day out when we have winter storms and large thunderstorms here and our linemen, they want to be here, they want to help, they are the heroes of our daily society,” Conner said.
Both the Red Cross and Xcel Energy need to be wary of how much help they send away, so as to still have enough locally to serve their own communities.
Schoeneck said that they not only sent out to the Southeast, but after an early morning fire in Minneapolis, they’re caring for more than 50 residents locally whose apartments are now gone while others are out of the state.
Xcel Energy recently dealt with a wind storm in the Dakotas and it provided conversations of how they wanted to deploy their resources in order to find a delicate balance between helping others and still doing their job in the region.
“We need to maintain serving our customers as well, so new customer connections, those types of things. We look at our staff and find a balance and determine what we can support with,” Conner said.
It’s still uncertain when some of the volunteers or Xcel Energy employees will return home, but they’ll be out there a little while longer.
The Red Cross has continually trained more volunteers to go to disaster areas and receive donations.
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