WINCHESTER, Ky. (WKYT) - Power crews from Kentucky are headed south to help those dealing with outages from Hurricane Isaac.

A spokesperson with East Kentucky Power Cooperative told WKYT Thursday morning that 76 linemen are making the trip.

They've seen the devastating affects of a hurricane before, and are no strangers to the difficulties that come with the job of restoring power to hundreds of thousands.
But Clark Energy President and CEO Paul Embs says his employees jumped at the chance to help.

"Really, it makes me feel good knowing that if we have a situation here like our friends in West Liberty had, that I'm sure those folks in Louisiana would be coming," said Embs.

We spoke with one of Clark's crew members over the phone earlier on their way down to Louisiana and asked them what they were looking forward to the most on this trip. And, aside from helping our their colleagues, they were looking forward to getting the trip over with so they could get to work as quickly as possible.

"You just would really like to snap your fingers and be there so you could go ahead and get started working and help to restore power. The longest part is actually the ride and just getting there," said a Clark Energy crew member.

The Clark Energy crew has heard the damage isn't quite as bad as what they observed with Hurricane Katrina, but they know challenges await.

"Well they told us to be aware of alligators and snakes down there where the floods have came. So that's actually going to be an obstacle for us. And also trying to maneuver through the high waters," the crew member added.

Isaac knocked out power to as many as 700,000 people, stripped branches off trees and flattened fields of sugar cane in Louisiana and Mississippi.