COLUMBUS, Ohio — As Hurricane Ian grows in momentum with its eye set on Florida, the thought of potential damage and aftermath weigh heavy.
More than a thousand miles away Ohioans like Anthony Walker are ready to help.
“Being able to help people in need obviously brings a warm feeling to you,” Walker said.
The AEP Ohio lineworker is one of 481 employees and contractors headed south to Florida and Georgia.
“Volunteers are ready and waiting in various locations watching the storm path,” Greater Columbus Red Cross Executive Director Cory Paul said.
Paul said volunteers are also watching the storm as crews prepare for Ian’s landfall.
“Right now, we have six volunteers from the central Ohio area that are deployed to Florida or surrounding states and we will see that number increase dramatically in the next couple days and weeks,” he said.
Red Cross volunteers could be gone for as long as three weeks.
Walker said his deployment will be at least two weeks. He says what’s difficult is leaving his family, including his wife and two children, ages 5 and 7.
“They know that daddy’s job’s important,” Walker said. “And, a big storm’s coming…I gotta go turn the lights back on.”
Walker’s wife, Kaylee, said it can be a challenge by herself, but knows this line of work is one worth sharing.
“I think that we can explain to ourselves or to our kids that there’s other people who need them more than we do right now,” she said. “Makes it a little bit easier.”
A gift. A skillset that Walker hopes one day will make his children proud.
“I’d like to think that they take pride in it when they get a little bit older and understand it a little bit better,” he said. “I know my son, that’s all he talks about is being a lineman when he grows up, so we’ll see.”