Kirkland resident Dean Davis missed his 10-year-old son’s first football game of the season for the Cubs Purple at Lake Washington High School on Saturday.

But his family was understanding.

A Potelco lineman out of Redmond, Davis headed to the East Coast last week with more than two dozen line workers, who typically perform construction and maintenance work on Puget Sound Energy’s electric system. They are working to help restore power to residents and businesses in Connecticut who lost power from damage sustained recently by Tropical Storm Irene.

Thirty Potelco employees left Tuesday for Hartford to assist Connecticut Light & Power. As of Saturday, CL&P, which serves 1.2 million customers, had 75,000 customers without power, down from a peak of 672,000 on Sunday.

These are similar numbers to what PSE customers experienced during the Hanukah Eve storm of 2006.

The Potelco team is already receiving thanks from residents. They are expected to stay in Connecticut into next week.

“Given the time of year and the upcoming weather forecasts for the Puget Sound region, we revised our construction plans and believe supporting communities on the East Coast, in a mutual assistance endeavor is the appropriate step,” said Sue McLain, PSE senior vice president of Delivery Operations.