Helicopter operations at a laydown yard in Las Piedras [Image 3 of 3]

LAS PIEDRAS, PUERTO RICO

03.10.2018

Photo by Sarah Bennett 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Portland District

A helicopter returns a line worker from a worksite in the mountains back to the laydown yard in Las Piedras, Puerto Rico. He had been preparing an installation site for a lattice tower. In the background, another helicopter carries the tower from the to the site, where it will support a critical transmission line through the interior of the island, providing electricity to some of the hardest to reach customers.

As of March 11, 2018, more than 91 percent of customers on the island have electricity. The remaining nine percent are located mostly in mountainous areas not easily accessible by utility vehicles. To repair the lines that service these customers, workers, poles, towers, tools and equipment must be flown into the mountains by helicopter. Despite transportation and access challenges, work crews on the island are focusing their efforts in remote areas, with the goal of achieving 95 percent restoration in these regions by late May.

• Date Taken: 03.10.2018
• Date Posted: 03.14.2018 17:58
• Photo ID: 4217099
• VIRIN: 180311-A-NM762-0280
• Resolution: 5184x3456
• Size: 758.66 KB
• Location: LAS PIEDRAS, PR