Menard Electric Cooperative employees Troy Shafer, Seth Parker, Jeremy Willis, Jason Beggs, Kyle Hill and Erik Raikes left Thursday Sept. 13 and returned Sept. 20th from fighting strong winds, heavy rains, and a devastating flooding to help restore power to the hundreds of thousands of members left without after hurricane Florence; in North Carolina alone more than 326,000 were without power on Saturday Sept. 15. Downed poles, trees and lines in areas flooded by as much as 42 inches of rain made restoring power a challenge.
The electric cooperatives of North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Georgia sought mutual assistance when preparing for the storm. Menard Electric Cooperatives was among those electric cooperatives who answered that call. We sent two crews along with bucket trucks and other supplies.
Why do we go? Cooperation among cooperatives is one of our founding principles. We help other co-ops in need - and we know that if our area was devastated by a weather disaster, other co-ops would come to our aid.