After 36 days of intense work on the storm-battered island of Puerto Rico, power crews from Kissimmee Utility Authority returned home to Central Florida late Tuesday evening, just in time for Thanksgiving.

The utility sent six workers and a small convoy of vehicles to San Juan on Oct. 17 to assist the island with the restoration of electricity, following a devastating blow from Hurricane Maria. Although their mutual aid contract only required 30 days of assistance, the crews stayed on an additional six days to complete some critical repairs to the island’s electrical grid.

Working with other utilities and contractors over the past month, the Kissimmee crews were part of the mutual aid mission that helped restore power to an estimated one million residents across the island.

“We are extremely proud of their efforts,” said KUA president and general manager Jim Welsh. “We’re glad to have them home and grateful they are able to spend Thanksgiving with their families.”

This fall was a very busy season for KUA workers who not only restored power to their own system after Hurricane Irma, but traveled to Orlando, Lakeland, Key West and Puerto Rico to assist with power restoration.

Founded in 1901, KUA  is Florida’s sixth largest community-owned utility powering 74,000 customers in Osceola County, Fla.