(Radio Iowa) – After several days of repairs in Ohio, a team of about 70 Iowa utility workers is now in western North Carolina, helping to restore power to tens of thousands of customers who were hit by the remnants of Hurricane Helene. Line mechanic and crew leader Lee Tyler, of Le Mars, has worked for MidAmerican Energy nearly 20 years. Tyler says there’s nothing he’s seen in the Asheville area so far that’s surprised him, not after all of the storms, tornadoes and derechos that have lashed Iowa. “No, it’s pretty typical of a major storm, a lot of trees and wires down, but nothing that I’ve seen so far is out of the ordinary,” Tyler says. “Lots of broken poles, lots of trees on lines, just the regular storm work that we’re all used to.”

The crews are working mostly 16-hour days, and come home understandably exhausted to catch a little shut-eye in tents, trailers and trucks. “As long as there’s sunlight, we’re out working,” Tyler says. “They’ve got breakfast for us back at the show-up area, and they do have trailers with bunks in it, but a lot of guys are just sleeping out in the trucks because the weather’s so nice out right now.” Aside from the paycheck, Tyler was asked what keeps him motivated on this type of mission, working long hours in challenging conditions far from home. “Just the fact that we’re getting power back on to all these people that have been without power for so long, and it disrupts their lives, not being able to have the power that they normally have during the day to do their daily activities,” Tyler says, “and everybody’s so thrilled and excited when everything comes back on.”

A simple thank you goes a long way, too. The Iowa utility crews were gratified to get up one morning to find someone had taped a hand-lettered thank you note to one of their bucket trucks, along with a heart and a smiley face. “That was actually my truck that it got taped to, and yeah, we’ve had nothing but positive from everybody,” Tyler says. “Everybody’s honking and waving and thanking us as they go by. And yeah, it’s been a pretty positive experience, so far, from everybody.” Tyler talked with Radio Iowa via satellite phone, as there are precious few cell towers still standing in the North Carolina mountains. He says they’re methodically restoring power to 200 customers at time, and sometimes just one or two houses. It’s anybody’s guess how long it’ll take to get this job done and come home, he says. There are conflicting rumors it may be a matter of days, weeks, or even a month.

“Some of the areas that they’re telling them that, the reason it’s going to take so long is when it flooded, it ruined some of the big substations,” he says, “and it’s going to take that long to get replacement parts to fix the substations back up.”

The destruction from the winds and flooding is extensive, he says. Helene is being called one of the deadliest and most expensive storms ever to hit the nation, with more than 200 dead, hundreds listed as missing, and damage some estimates peg at 34-billion dollars.