Peabody Light Plant Workers Aid Hurricane Ian Relief In Florida

PEABODY, MA — Two experienced line workers from the Peabody Municipal Light Plant were off to storm-ravaged areas of Florida this week to help restore power infrastructure lost in the devastation of Hurricane Ian.

Billy Reaume and Kevin MacGregor of PMLP were among 50 line workers from plants in Wakefield, Danvers and others in the Northeast Public Power Association to aid municipal light plants in Florida in the aftermath of the historic storm.

Reaume is PMLP's working supervisor line worker/trouble worker and MacGregor is a line worker and trouble worker.

The two men have 23 years of utility experience with PMLP between them.

"PMLP has two of its top distribution workers responding to Hurricane Ian, along with many skilled line workers from around the country," PMLP Communications Manager John Maihos said. "We thank them for their dedication to PMLP and the trade."

The Massachusetts line workers left on Tuesday for Jacksonville where they were to begin restoration efforts.

One death was confirmed from the havoc now-Tropical Storm Ian brought to west-central Florida, but Gov. Ron DeSantis worries there are hundreds of fatalities from Lee County, where many residents didn't evacuate and were trapped by storm surge.

As of Thursday morning, there were an estimated 2.6 million Florida residents without power.

Stay up-to-date by viewing all Hurricane Ian coverage on Patch here.

President Joe Biden was briefed by Federal Emergency Management Administration officials Thursday morning, and signed federal disaster requests submitted by DeSantis.

"We know many families are hurting. … and our entire country is hurting with them," Biden said.

If people want to donate to cleanup efforts, they can go to the Florida Disaster Fund: www.FloridaDisaster.org. And those who want to volunteer to help with storm cleanup can sign up at www.volunteerFlorida.org.

(Scott Souza is a Patch field editor covering Beverly, Danvers, Marblehead, Peabody, Salem and Swampscott. He can be reached at Scott.Souza@Patch.com. Twitter: @Scott_Souza.)