SPRINGFIELD, Mo. — As Hurricane Idalia approaches Florida, City Utilities has already sent crews to help.

The CU crews are part of a mutual aid agreement that sends linemen to heavily impacted areas.

“We’re responding to a request from a Missouri Public Utility Alliance employer, of which we’re a member of, for a response to go down a stage before the tropical storm hits the Florida area,” said Joel Alexander, spokesperson for CU. “They’ve requested assistance to be there before the storm gets there, and that’s expected to happen sometime on Wednesday.”

The mutual aid request comes as no surprise, as just a few weeks ago, the Missouri Public Utility Alliance provided support to Springfield during a series of severe storms that caused over 15,000 power outages. Now, it’s Springfield’s turn to reciprocate the support.

“Folks have come to help us from time to time. You may remember about three or four weeks ago, we had crews from Missouri came in. And this is just our way of responding back,” Alexander said.

CU crews loaded up today and hit the road to the Jacksonville area, helping to ensure a swift and effective response to the storm.

“They’ll be in place to start restoration immediately after the storm goes through,” Alexander said. “Right now, it looks like it’s going to be a fairly large-scale tropical storm by the time it hits Jacksonville.”

The crews include electric line crews, a mechanic, a safety officer and a duty supervisor. They are expected to arrive in Florida ahead of the storm and be ready to assist in any way possible.