ST. LOUIS — On Saturday, 120 line workers from Ameren Missouri and Illinois will be deployed to Kentucky and West Virginia.
Right now, lots of people in both states are in the dark due to Hurricane Helene.
Helene made landfall as a powerful, Category 4 storm in Florida's Big Bend region on Thursday night.
The storm cut power to millions of residents and caused massive flooding as it moved across Georgia, the Carolinas and other states.
"A few of our contractors may leave this evening. They will caravan to wherever they've been asked to go. We've been monitoring the weather for several days in preparation for this," said Ameren spokesman Brian Bretsch.
Photos shared by Bretsch showed some of the front line emergency contractors on recent jobs in the St. Louis area.
Now, the crews are gearing up to restore electricity to individuals and families hundreds of miles away.
People whose lives have been disruptive by the deadly and powerful hurricane.
As of tonight, more than 40 people have been killed by the storm.
"The men and women we're sending to Kentucky and West Virginia will find a place to stage all of the trucks and then they will go meet with someone from the host utility. They will get their orders. They will do a major safety briefing to find out where they're going, what sort of equipment they're going to need," Bretsch added.
Methodical, intense missions all in they name of helping those in need.
"They love to work safely, but there's nothing like going into a neighborhood that's dark. Maybe it's dark for 36 hours, 48 hours and to be the boots on the ground, restore the power is very gratifying. It's a day by day situation," Bretsch said.
Right now, it's not known exactly how long the local line workers will be on their out-of-state assignments.
What is certain: more could be called up in the coming days.