Turks and Caicos, September 8th, 2017 – Providenciales – FortisTCI takes this opportunity to recognize and empathize with everyone who has been negatively impacted by the passage of Hurricane Irma.
Hurricane Irma has left us with the challenge – and opportunity – to rebuild lives and our economy at this time. While the property damage is expected to be extensive and the impact to businesses quite significant, we are thankful that so far we have not received any official reports of injury or loss of life from this dangerous Category 5 storm.
Our relative good fortune is in no doubt due to our islands’ preparation, and the efforts of agencies such as the DDME and other emergency services whose professionalism and care throughout the storm have been quite commendable. Indeed, disaster preparations and restoration management is a top priority for FortisTCI.
In the immediate aftermath of the hurricane, our focus was to ensure the safety and security of our employees and their families. To this end, our HR Department is carrying out the necessary checks to ensure that everyone is accounted for. Now that the ‘All Clear’ has been issued, FortisTCI’s priority is to restore power, in all service territories, as quickly and as safely as possible.
FortisTCI has begun the rigorous and comprehensive task of assessing the impact of the hurricane on our Transmission and Distribution assets, generation facilities, and support infrastructure to determine the extent of system degradation, and the levels of resource needed. We will be joined in the restoration efforts by our colleagues from across the Fortis group of companies. The availability of safe and reliability electricity is crucial to the restoration and continued success of the Turks and Caicos Islands’ economy.
Moreover, we have assurance from our parent company Fortis Inc. and its subsidiaries that they stand ready to support FortisTCI with personnel and resources throughout the rebuilding process. We are all ready to get to work.
In the meantime, I urge all our customers to continue to exercise caution as they go about assessing their properties for damage. As always, safety is one of our main concerns.
Eddinton Powell
FortisTCI President and Chief Executive Officer
#PressRelease
