Xcel Energy sends aid to Florida for Hurricane Irma - KFDA - NewsChannel 10 / Amarillo News, Weather, Sports

Xcel Energy sent around 200 employees to assist with power restoration efforts in Florida, including 36 from Texas and New Mexico today.

"Amarillo is a city, and all of the cities in the Panhandle and Eastern New Mexico are cities that want to help," said Xcel Energy spokesman Wes Reeves. 

Xcel Energy is part of the Edison Electric Institute’s Mutual Assistance program, a program that catalogs the resources that utility companies have to provide during large outage events such as natural disasters. 

Xcel has been on standby to offer line crews for outside assistance since Hurricane Harvey affected large areas of Texas and Louisiana two weeks ago, but they did not receive a call for help after that event. 

However Tampa issued a formal request for help from Xcel Energy after recent trends show Hurricane Irma now heading right for the Tampa area.

Crews from New Mexico and Texas have been called, and today are heading to Amarillo to leave tomorrow for Florida. 

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