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Alabama Power preparing as Hurricane Idalia hits Florida

Alabama Power is sending crews to help Georgia Power in the wake of Hurricane Idalia.

The utility said its Power Delivery Storm Center is monitoring the hurricane’s path and intensity. 

The “extremely dangerous” Category 3 storm made landfall just before 8 a.m. ET at Florida’s Big Bend near Keaton Beach.

The system had maximum sustained winds of 125 mph with higher gusts around the time it made landfall.

RELATED: Alabama to get rain, wind from soon-to-be Hurricane Idalia

Alabama Power is sending 325 company employees (line crew and support) in addition to 360 contract resources to the Georgia Power Company. 

“Here at 12th Street, we do a lot of prepare work for mutual assistance,” said Dwight Russell, Alabama Power crew foreman in Birmingham.

“When another company calls, we send out word to tell our crews to pack bags and come to work and set a destination for us to show up, and we go to work.”

Russell and the crews are prepped to make their way to Macon, Ga.

Post-hurricane conditions could leave areas uninhabitable for several weeks, if not months, owing to the catastrophic storm surge and wind damage. 

While Alabama expects 1-2 inches of rain from the storm system, areas south of I-85 and east of I-65 will see sustained winds of 10-20 mph from through 7 p.m. today. Along the Alabama coast, warnings of dangerous rip currents have been issued from through Thursday night, with high surf alerts active through tonight.

For storm preparedness tips, customers can visit the Storm Center at AlabamaPower.com/Storm

Alabama Power offers Outage Alerts, a service that provides real-time updates on restoration efforts and expected power restoration timings.

Customers can sign up by texting “Enroll” to APCOUT (272688) or by visiting AlabamaPower.com/Alerts. 

Once registered, reporting outages or checking repair status is just a text away.

In case of an outage, Alabama Power customers can also inform the company through the Alabama Power mobile app, the website, or calling 800-888-2726.

Grayson Everett is a staff writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @Grayson270

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