LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- SLEMCO line workers, mechanics and safety personnel are on the way to help out in the aftermath of Hurricane Idalia.

Over 30 employees and more than 20 line trucks, pickups, trailers, excavators and other off-road equipment left before daybreak this morning, headed to Tri-County Electric Cooperative, Inc. in Madison, Florida.

The Category 3 storm hit TCEC’s service area head-on, knocking out power to homes and businesses. Nearly 100,000 people were still without electricity Thursday night.

The storm first made landfall Wednesday in Florida, where it razed homes and downed power poles. It then swung northeast, slamming Georgia, flooding many of South Carolina’s beaches and sending seawater into the streets of downtown Charleston. In North Carolina it poured more than 9 inches of rain on Whiteville, which flooded downtown buildings.