By JESSA LEWIS
6 News Reporter
SEYMOUR (WATE) - KUB crews worked Friday to restore power since severe storms ended Thursday night.
Crew members are working 16 hour shifts to get everyone's lights and air conditioning back on as quickly as possible.
Crews put up new power lines in the area all day, replacing several broken poles as well. There are also six additional crews from Ohio helping get everything running again.
On one stretch of Tittsworth Road in Seymour, people with generators were the only ones who had power in their homes.
"We had one large tree that fell, that ripped down three large spans of wire, and again has damaged three poles or taken down three poles. So we've got a collective effort behind us of tree crews, line crews and labor crews," explained KUB spokesman Jason Meridieth.
Crews arrived after the storm passed through last night, and neighbors say they've done a good job of trying to get the electricity back on and the dangerous lines out of the road.
"I live up toward Sevierville, and it got pretty rough up in there, but when they said poles were falling and lines were jerking out from my parents' house, I came down here to check on them," said Delores Latham.
Replacing three poles and getting lines back up takes some time. "We have to do a Tennessee One Call to make sure that when we dig, we dig safely and we'll have to replace the poles and poles take 4-6 hours typically to replace," Meridieth said.
Latham's parents live on the road. "It's been rough on them. They're elderly. They're older, and it's really hot in their house, no way to eat or nothing else hardly," she said.
While crews work to restore power, they want to make sure customers stay safe, as well as themselves.
"We appreciate their patience, but we want to make sure that they try to stay in the shade, drink plenty of water, take care of themselves. Safety is first and foremost," Meridieth said.
KUB still expects this to be a multi-day process, and recommends that anyone without power find somewhere cool to go, rather than sitting in a house without air conditioning.
Crews put up new power lines in the area all day, replacing several broken poles as well.
