As the massive Hurricane Florence barrels down on the eastern seaboard, the entire Exelon community is monitoring its movements and have put emergency measures in place to respond to customers and help fellow utilities.
Though Florence has been
downgraded, predicted strong winds and flooding rain have already displaced more than one million people and are expected to cause billions of dollars in property damage.
With that in mind, our utility companies have been planning for Hurricane Florence well in advance of its arrival, launching efforts to create awareness on preparedness and working with local governments to prioritize any need-service restorations for critical public health and safety facilities so they can continue to help people. The major work will begin after Hurricane Florence has wreaked her havoc. The utility employees know all too well the devastation that can be caused by a storm of this magnitude. In preparation, our utilities inspected all their equipment and increased staffing, making sure line mechanics, overhead line personnel and tree trimmers would be ready to provide round-the-clock, dedicated service. If outages occur, crews will work to assess the damage and provide an estimated restoration time.
Exelon’s utilities are part of industry’s mutual assistance network and our employees stand ready to help their sister utilities and those fellow utilities in the south who are being directly impacted and will have to address the aftermath.
Exelon is committed to the safety and reliability of the service we provide to our customers and communities. September is National Preparedness Month and serves as a good reminder to prepare for emergency events that can occur. For a comprehensive list of hurricane preparations please visit
National Hurricane Center’s website.
For safety, Exelon also recommends customers:
- stay clear of downed lines and assume downed wire or damaged equipment is energized;
- keep out of flooded basements because at some levels, water can be energized;
- stay away from flood-covered electrical equipment even if the power is out;
- never keep a personal generator indoors or inside an attached garage or connect a generator directly to a home’s wiring due to potential power back-feed;
- have an evacuation plan with a place to go if needed.