Several different energy companies are on a mission to attempt to help the territory of Puerto Rico to regain power after it was ravaged by Hurricane Maria on September 20th. Xcel energy was one of those companies and today some employees returned back to Lubbock after a 21 day deployment.

“Probably the worst we’ve seen on any other storms we’ve been off on,” said Delwin Britton, Xcel Linework Foreman in Levelland, “This was my sixth hurricane that I’ve been off on. We’ve went to all the one’s in Florida.” 

They were able to restore power to around 1,000 Puerto Ricans, but they say there’s still a lot of work to be done. Hurricane Maria was the strongest storm to hit Puerto Rico in 85 years. The first group of Xcel Energy’s Puerto Rico responders left back in January. 

“At the end of each day we tried to energize a section of customers. And the cheers and the tears, there were grown men just full crying on their porch..just to turn on their porch light. So that right there was all the fuel to keep doing what we do,” said Brandon Zahn, Xcel Linework Foreman in Plainview. 

Some of their biggest problems were navigating through the rough terrain and mountainous area of Ceiba, but the warm welcome from the Puerto Ricans made it worth it. 

“Those people that didn’t have power cooked dinner and breakfast for us every day. I mean it was unbelievable how they accepted us,” said Britton.

They say the areas still lacking power are hard places to access making the process that much harder. 

“I would guess it would take a couple more months for everybody to be gotten to and assessed and repaired by the time they get the material to do it,” said Zahn. 

They understand the island still needs more help, but they’re still proud of their success. 

“These guys here standing behind us is some of the best lineman there is. I’ve been real proud of all these guys right here. We took 12 down there and we brought 12 home. That’s what our goal was,” said Britton. 

Another group of Xcel employees left today for a 21-day deployment hoping to bring more power to the territory.