Progress Energy Talks to Benzinga About Precautionary Measures as Irene Approaches East Coast

As the Hurricane Irene approaches East Coast of the United States, companies in the area are taking precautionary measures to prepare themselves for the worst case scenario. Benzinga contacted an electric utility company, Progress Energy (NYSE: PGN), for more specific information about the company's preparations for the storm.The company's spokesperson explained that Progress Energy has been monitoring the storm for several days and started initiating precautionary measures three days ago. As a part of these measures, the company will carefully monitor the progress of Irene and process the weather data to accurately forecast the potential damages and need for extra repair crews and customer service representatives.As of now, the company expects power outages to occur in certain areas that on the hurricane's current path. When asked how quickly the company could recover from the potential damage caused by Irene the spokesperson explained that it is very hard to predict. However, typically after a hurricane, the consumers may experience power outages that can last up to a few days.The Weather Channel offers an excellent hurricane tracking tool on its website. Hurricane Tracker can be found at: http://www.weather.com/weather/hurricanecentral/tracker.