Toronto Hydro sends nearly 30 workers to Florida to help restore power after Irma

Toronto Hydro is sending nearly 30 workers to Florida on Tuesday to help restore power to the Tampa area following Hurricane Irma.

The workers will join 175 Hydro One employees who headed south on Monday. 

Tori Gass, spokesperson for Toronto Hydro, said the crews are leaving from Toronto Hydro's Etobicoke facility.

Toronto Hydro received a call from Florida utilities on late Monday.

"They've been devastated down there. We've been seeing the pictures and the images coming out of Florida. It's quite severe. It's destruction everywhere. One of the big things is that the power is out to millions of customers," Gass said. 

"This is a bit far for us to be going. I'm not even sure we've been this far before. But that just speaks to the devastation that's down there," she said. 

"We'll be doing whatever is necessary to help them do repairs and get the power back up for those customers who really need it right now."

Gass said the crews will bring their bucket trucks and Toronto Hydro expects most of the work to involve fixing overhead wires. 

Close to 4.5 million homes and businesses lost power in the hurricane that made landfall in the U.S. early Sunday, and utility officials say it will take weeks to restore electricity in the state.

Toronto Hydro and Hydro One have reciprocal agreements with North American utilities to provide help during major power outages.

In these situations, all costs are covered by the utility receiving the help.