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As Superstorm Sandy victims shiver in the face of a new snow storm moving through the area Wednesday, CPS Energy crews from San Antonio remain in New Jersey, doing what they can to help.
A team of 51 CPS workers sent to work on downed power lines in New Jersey reached a major milestone Wednesday, restoring a complete substation.
"That particular one in New Jersey restored power to over 9,100 customers at one time," said CPS spokesman Albert Cantu, who also said the crews, which are being paid by the local utility company, planned for a two-week restoration; the new storm could re-define the mission.
"In the past, what we've done is we've rotated our guys out," said Cantu of the situation. "So if it goes beyond 14 days, if it looks like it's going to be a longer effort, then we'll take our guys who are in New Jersey, we'll bring them back to San Antonio. Then we send more guys from our crews up to New Jersey to finish the restoration effort."
Wednesday afternoon, crews faced light flurries and rain, but winds were expected to increase to 40 miles an hour. In a team effort that Cantu called a sort of brotherhood, two other utility companies from the West Coast are also participating in the restoration project in New Jersey.
Cantu said that should a disaster strike San Antonio, we could expect a similar response from utility companies on the East Coast.
