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Texas Panhandle Energy Crews Deploy To Puerto Rico To Help Hurricane Victims

U.S. Customs & Border Protection

Xcel Energy crews from West Texas have been hard at work in Puerto Rico, helping to restore power to devastated hurricane victims there, reports The Amarillo Globe-News.

Xcel spokesman Wes Reeves says some crews will be returning this weekend, at which point another energy crew will head out for a three-week deployment.

More than four months after Hurricane Maria tore across the island, one in four Puerto Ricans remains without power. The West Texas Xcel crews have been working in a remote mountain region on the southeastern part of the island, a region that suffered extreme damage.

Reeves said most of the work involves setting poles and rehanging cable. This isn’t the first time Xcel crews from West Texas have helped hurricane victims; the power company also sent crews to the Gulf Coast and Florida after the devastation of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma.