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How San Antonio organizations are expected to assist Florida during Hurricane Ian
Crews from CPS Energy will leave San Antonio to respond while the Salvation Army is on standby.
SAN ANTONIO — Hurricane Ian is growing in strength as it pushes closer to Florida’s west coast and the race to prepare for the storm is underway.
Here in San Antonio, organizations are also answering the call for help.
Crews from CPS Energy will be sending 35 employees to join other energy workers from across the county to assist with power restoration. This includes linemen, pole crews, fleet personnel, safety teams and management.
Jacksonville Energy Authority made the request for help last Sunday.
Crews will stage in Mobile, Alabama, and wait for JAE to give them the green light before entering Florida.
CPS Energy expects their crews will be in Jacksonville for at least two weeks.
“Our mission is to help the public and we’re part of a municipal utility. Part of that is just helping our fellow public partners to restore power and make sure theirs customer the basic needs of electricity,” said Richard Medina of CPS Energy.
The Salvation Army is also on standby for likely deployment to Florida.
Staff and volunteers from its San Antonio and New Braunfels offices are ready to respond if needed. Its Emergency Disaster Services Teams have been preparing for respond and relief operations the last few days.
The Salvation Army of Florida has 27 mobile kitchens ready to respond and here in Texas, an Incident Command Team and five mobile units, including a units from San Antonio and New Braunfels are being readied to provide additional support if needed.
“We’ll go in and we’ll feed first responders. If there are displaced families and individuals, we’ll certainly feed them and other volunteers. Our goal in a situation like this is to feed and feed as many as we can,” said Brad Mayhar of the local Salvation Army.
Mayhar said financial donations made on their website goes a hundred percent to disaster relief.
The San Antonio Zoo is also on standby through its association and group called Zoo Disaster Response, Rescue and Recovery.
The group formed after Hurricane Harvey slammed the Texas coast in 2017.