Ohio team returns after hurricane recovery efforts

COLUMBUS, Ohio ( WCMH ) — A team of about 120 AEP Ohio employees is back in Ohio after helping with power restoration efforts in western North Carolina in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene.

The Ohio crew was there from the very beginning.

"We were right in the heart of the storm and were able to start seeing the impacts of the storm right away," said Dylan Brown, Columbus Operations Manager for AEP Ohio.

The team was sent to Asheville before Helene. In most storm deployments, the teams end up staging somewhere and then help get the power back on in communities closer to the coast. With all the damage in Asheville, they stayed to help the power company there.

"We were one of very few crews that were staged here in Asheville and we were able to start helping them as soon as things were looked at and things had calmed down," Brown said.

The team spent about 20 days in Asheville. That's longer than a usual deployment, according to Brown. He spoke with NBC4 before the crew came back home.

"With this hurricane deployment in my 20 trips of different types of storms this is the worst devastation I've ever seen myself. I've got a lot of folks down here that have been out on a lot more than I have that have verified that same information.

While in North Carolina, the crew worked 16-hour days. In addition to fixing poles and lines and getting the lights back on, Brown said they were also able to get snacks and cold water to community members.

"The ability to go out and help those that have been impacted in a storm like this, it's very rewarding, it's humbling, it reminds us of what we have at home and what we're doing all this for," he said.

Brown said some of the most touching moments were when community members who had lost so much turned around and made food for the power crews. While his crew is back, AEP Ohio currently has a team of 94 employees in Florida helping after Hurricane Milton.