Oncor says approximately 100 employees and contractors who were heading East to help restore power after a powerful winter storm have been allowed to turn around to Texas.
The Oncor crews left Friday morning and were headed to North Carolina to help Duke Energy.
North Carolina had been expecting significant icing and up to a foot of snow, but Duke Energy revised its forecast, saying the storm was not going to have as big of an impact there as once predicted because it had moved farther north.
The Texas crews made it as far as Meridian, Mississippi, on Friday, where they plan to spend the night before returning home Saturday.
Oncor is part of a mutual assistance program that allows for the sharing of resources and manpower during a natural disaster.
"We have strong relationships with utilities throughout the United States," Oncor Vice President of Distribution Operations Keith Hull said. "It's rewarding to be able to help our mutual assistance partners in their time of need in the same way they help us."
Extremely heavy snow and 50 mph gusts is still expected to reduce visibility to zero, topple trees and cause power outages in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia.
