Storm support teams assist utilities after back-to-back hurricanes

In late September and early October, the Southeastern U.S. endured two significant severe weather events: Hurricane Helene, followed quickly by Hurricane Milton. These back-to-back storms caused tremendous damage to the power infrastructure across multiple states. Hundreds of Leidos team members volunteered to help impacted utilities perform vital damage assessments to ensure that electric service was restored to these hard-hit communities.

Team members from across the Southeast were deployed. More than 280 power delivery staff responded, and many volunteered for field duty after both hurricanes.

The need to provide rapid restoration of service across impacted communities places enormous demands on utility operations. By putting Leidos experts in the field, we are able to improve the utility’s efficiency in damage assessment, thus expediting the recovery process for millions of customers. Leidos’ assessment teams worked 14-to-16-hour days in very challenging conditions, providing the local utilities with critical information needed to deploy resources – people and equipment – to the affected sites.  

Safety was key to this complex mission. Leidos’ field teams had to navigate blocked roadways, downed power lines, flooding, and a host of other obstacles. The deployments often lasted over a week.  And yet, our teams returned from the field safe and unhurt – a testament to the robust practices that are part of the Leidos safety culture. 

Severe weather events, whether hurricanes or destructive storms, can be truly devastating to the communities in the path of the storm. The utilities that Leidos serves have confidence in our ability to quickly deploy assistance when and where they need it.  Promises made, promises kept: the Leidos power teams delivered on that promise.