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Linemen work on the power lines in front of Melba's house late Tuesday night. They had the power on by early afternoon on Wednesday, 10 days after it had gone out.
The hard work of the power linemen we saw was very impressive. They were there from all over the country (the lineman on the right in the photo above was from Georgia, for example), and they worked long grueling hours doing work that was physically demanding, complicated, and dangerous. I saw these guys running to help one another, lifting heavy debris out of the road, and they all seemed to have a sense of urgency about their work even though it took many days to restore power to most areas. I never saw them screwing off — the ones who weren't working were sound asleep in the cabs of their trucks.
The linemen above slept in a tent camp in Ocean Springs, and they worked from 6:00am to 10:00pm every day, with two breaks for meals. Below are a few more photos of the men that restored power to the 200,000 Southern Mississippi residences and businesses that were living off generators (if they were lucky enough to have one) in the days after the hurricane.
