Supply crews from Maryland mobilize to assist as Hurricane Milton approaches Florida

ODENTON, Md. (7News) — Hurricane Milton is growing larger and more dangerous and is expected to make landfall on Florida's Gulf Coast in less than 24 hours. Local utility teams and first responders here in the DMV are preparing to deploy again to help.

BGE is mobilizing crews in Maryland and departing its Odenton service center Wednesday morning. The local gas and electric company is sending 15 crews to Tampa, Florida, to help repair expected damage from Hurricane Milton.

In total, more than 40 personnel – including line workers, fleet specialists, security guards and other support personnel – set out this morning to assist in efforts to restore power to those affected by the storm. BGE and its sister providers Exelon work extensively with mutual aid networks. The teams have been on site on the east coast for weeks and are dealing with the consequences of Hurricane Helene.

READ MORE | Tampa braces for worst storm in over a century as Hurricane Milton approaches: NWS

Tens of thousands of residents in Florida and the East Coast are still recovering. In total, BGE is sending two managers, three supervisors, a safety specialist, 33 line workers, two fleet mechanics and an equipment operator.

BGE also sent more than 40 employees to Georgia for 13 days to help Georgia Power rebuild from Hurricane Helene.

BGE is Maryland's largest natural gas and electric utility, providing safe and reliable energy to more than 1.3 million electric customers and 700,000 natural gas customers in central Maryland. The company was founded in 1816 as the country's first gas utility and is still headquartered in Baltimore City.

Pepco crews left the Forestville Service Center on Tuesday. Pepco deployed eight team members, including assembly line workers, mechanics and other support staff. They will support Duke Energy, meeting at and deploying from their headquarters in St. Petersburg, Florida.

READ MORE | Airports in Florida are monitoring Milton, and several are suspending flight operations

Given the strength of the storm, the final destination must be determined. Additionally, Hurricane Helene teams are still deployed in Georgia.

Members of Maryland Task Force One are already providing incident support in the Carolinas.

The state's helicopter rescue team, part of the Maryland National Guard, only returned yesterday but expects the mission to be diverted again and flown south to provide assistance again. In Virginia, thousands of Dominion Energy employees and others from other states have been working non-stop in South Carolina since Helene eloped.

Since the unprecedented renovation work began, power has been restored to more than 445,000 customers.