LINCOLN, R.I. (WLNE) — Right on the heels of Hurricane Helene, Florida is bracing itself for another major storm. Calls have gone out once again to help with recovery and rescue for when Milton makes landfall. Around a dozen crews from Rhode Island Energy hit the road Tuesday morning, answering a mutual aid call from Tampa Energy ahead of the storm. “Mutual assistance, which is what this is, is really the backbone of the utility industry. For us to be able to support each other during these incredibly difficult times of massive storms.” said RI Energy CEO Greg Cornett. “So as soon as we realized we weren’t likely to be hit by the storm – that’s first and foremost because our primary obligation is to our own customers – we made the decision on what resources we could lend, and these team members were happy to answer the call.” Cornett continued. Crews from Rhode Island Energy are just coming back from Virginia, helping out with the last storm, but the teams feel ready for whatever awaits them. “We’re trying to get the power back, for everybody because that’s key,” said Kevin Mcnamara, one of the line supervisors. “There will probably be a lot of flooding, there will be a lot of damage, a lot of structural damage, a lot of lines down, poles down,” Mcnamara continued. This isn’t the first time these teams have responded to storms of this magnitude, so they know what they’re heading into. “Katrina. Went down for Katrina in Florida which was a lot less obviously than New Orleans so yeah, expecting the same,” said Mcnamara. “Been down to a few, down to Nemo too,” said Brian Madden, another supervisor heading down. “Down in Long Island, that was pretty devastating down there too, so yeah. We know what we’re getting into,” he said.  The Rhode Island Energy crews will work to bolster the response already heading down to Florida, and crews are expected to stay down working to restore power for about a week. Cornett told ABC6 while they send crews down for this, they’ll also make sure to keep staff for any issues here in Rhode Island. “First and foremost, we make sure that we maintain enough staffing levels that we can support our own normal operations with any weather that may be coming our way,” said Cornett. “So, different crews are headed down to Florida than those that were in Virginia most recently,” he said. In addition to Rhode Island Energy, groups like the Red Cross are sending around 40 people to help, and Massachusetts Task Force One with FEMA is also sending support crews to the impacted areas. Categories: News