With Hurricane Florence about to touch down on the East Coast, the Covington County Electric Cooperative is getting prepared to send out some linemen to help in case the Hurricane causes havoc.

“Our statewide association in Montgomery has informed us that our co-op neighbors in the Carolinas are requesting assistance,” Patty Singleton-Seay from the CEC said. “So the CEC does have one crew on stand-by, but it will be later this week before I can confirm that they are indeed going and when they are leaving.”

The CEC had a meeting yesterday morning to iron out the details.

“We had a meeting and we were told it might be Sunday or Monday before they leave,” Singleton-Seay said.

Wednesday afternoon, Florence was a Category 3 storm packing winds at 120 miles per hour. Wednesday night, it was a Category 2, but was broadening. It is predicted to deliver tropical-storm-force winds by noon Thursday to North Carolina’s coast, and hurricane-force winds and dangerous storm surges by late Thursday or early Friday.

Forecasters said it could stall over land until Sunday.

The National Hurricane Center predicted late yesterday the storm will come ashore south of Wilmington.