JACKSONVILLE Fla.-- Sandy knocked the lights out of the Northeast, but the city of Baltimore isn't taking on the "superstorm" alone. About 31 JEA linemen rolled out of the River City in their bucket trucks to Baltimore.
"Their goal right now is to get everyone back on as quickly and as safely as possible," said JEA spokesperson Gerri Boyce.
"It's returning the favor," said JEA lineman Chris Richardson, who phoned in from Baltimore.
Richardson gave Action News an eyewitness account of the damage.
"They say they have about 200,000 out of lights right now," he said. "It's widespread. We started seeing the fringes of it on the way up along North Carolina.
With winds dying down, Richardson says he's getting to work, but he says JEA crews are already facing challenges.
"Everything's different like up in these areas they have different voltages inside poles, things were arranged different that in Jacksonville so you're constantly looking at new stuff that you've never seen before and trying to figure out new ways to work," said Richardson.
JEA has about a week's worth of work in Baltimore and it's possible they could be up north even longer. Other cities in the Northeast could request their help too.
"We'll go anywhere they ask us to go we're prepared to help communities and vice versa they help us pretty regularly too," said Richardson.
JEA says the more cities they help the more help Jacksonville will get in the future because of a mutual aid agreement. All the cities that JEA assists, could get a call from JEA for help in the future if they have a disaster like Sandy.
