[UNFILTERED] PSO Crews From Oklahoma Helping Florida Recover From Hurricane

(Editor's Note: Storme Jones is reporting for News 9 [UNFILTERED] on behalf of Gaylord News and the Gaylord College of Journalism at the University of Oklahoma.)

About 20 workers with the Public Service Company of Oklahoma are working to get power restored to neighborhoods in the Florida Panhandle in the wake of destruction left behind by Hurricane Michael.

They're doing everything from replacing snapped lines to broken poles and blown transformers.

"Even though we have major damage, we are totally blessed. And we are alive, so what more can you ask for?" asked Mary Lundy, of Panama City.

Destruction could be found all across the Florida Panhandle, and Oklahomans are there, working to piece it all back together.

"We don't know how to say, 'Thank you,' enough. We really don't," she said.

Jonathan Caudle, a senior engineer with the Public Service Company of Oklahoma, said the utility's philosophy is in its name.

"PSO comes and does this to help out other utilities. We have a little acronym in the office that PSO is, 'People Serving Others,'" he said.

More than 120 PSO workers are part of the more than 200 people from Oklahoma electric companies working in Florida. Sleeping in massive camps, nearly 40 people to each converted semi-trailer, many workers are expecting to be away from their families until the end of the month.

"We are so blessed to have them; we are so blessed. Never ever forget them. Never ever forget them," Lundy said.