Lakefront Utilities Inc. (LUI), the Town of Cobourg electric utility, in collaboration with its partner Tal Trees Power Services Corp., an affiliate of Spark Power, has sent an electric line crew to Florida to assist with the expected emergency impact of Hurricane Dorian.

“Lakefront is extremely proud of our employees who selflessly offered to assist the affected residents of Florida,” said Dereck Paul, President and CEO of Lakefront Utilities. “The crew departed Friday morning, forgoing planned Labour Day family time to assist in whatever way the can for restoration of power.”

Every county in Florida is under a state of emergency as the state prepares for what may be the strongest hurricane to hit its east coast in nearly three decades. At 105 mph, Dorian is the strongest storm of the Atlantic hurricane season so far. If it makes landfall as a Category 4 storm on Monday as forecast, with sustained winds of around 130 mph, it will be the strongest hurricane to strike Florida’s East Coast since Andrew in 1992.

Under a standing agreement with Spark Power to provide assistance during major power outages, LUI also sent a small crew to Westchester County in New York to help restore power in the wake of the nor’easter that wreaked havoc on Northeastern, Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern U.S. in  March 2018, and to New Jersey to assist the southeastern and mid-Atlantic United States as they prepared for Hurricane Florence last September.

“Once again, our staff have risen to the challenge and gone to assist our neighbours to the south, working very long days alongside crews from multiple other utilities to repair damaged distribution infrastructure,” said Paul.