NOVEC sent its crew of six men, pictured above, on Jan. 7 to work for three days with SEC, which serves more than 59,000 people. The recent winter storm, according to a NOVEC press release, left 28,000 in the area without power.
“It was good to know we were helping people,” Jake Till, one of NOVEC’s lineworkers, said. “It’s a small, close-knit community. The lineworkers at Southside appreciated our support.”
The men worked mainly in the rural towns of Altavista and Bedford. They worked nearly 16-hour days in freezing temperatures, navigating the poor road conditions and ice.
Mark DeChristopher, NOVEC’s manager of system construction, said the cooperative was monitoring the needs of other cooperatives in the area to see if they needed assistance.
“Electric coops from VMDAEC [Virginia, Maryland & Delaware Association of Electric Cooperatives] remain in constant contact and discuss the potential need for mutual aid to assist in restoration efforts,” DeChristopher said.
The crew returned to the area on Jan. 10 following three days of hard work with the SEC crews.
