ORLANDO, Fla. — More than 420,000 Florida utility customers remained without power Saturday afternoon as crews worked to repair damage caused by Hurricane Isaias.
The outages were concentrated across the Panhandle, where Hurricane Isaias made landfall near Destin as a Category 2 storm with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph Friday night.
Follow Channel 9’s live updates on the damage and recovery from Hurricane Isaias.
Escambia County had Florida’s largest number of outages Saturday afternoon, with approximately 130,000 customers without electricity.
Holmes County reported the highest percentage of customers affected, with 95.5% of the county without power.
Outage figures showed approximately 200,000 customers without power in Alabama, while tens of thousands of outages were also reported in Georgia. Combined, more than 660,000 customers across the three states remained without electricity.
The number of Florida outages had declined from approximately 448,000 reported by Gov. Ron DeSantis earlier Saturday as utility crews began restoration work.
FPL deploys 16,000 workers
Florida Power & Light Company said it had restored electricity to more than 43,000 customers by 12:30 p.m. Saturday, representing more than 12% of the customers affected by Hurricane Isaias.
The utility said approximately 332,000 of its customers remained without power.
FPL assembled a restoration workforce of 16,000 people from 29 states. Crews are assessing damage and making repairs while navigating debris, fallen trees and other dangerous conditions.
“Our 16,000-strong restoration workforce is laser focused on getting the lights back on safely and as quickly as possible,” FPL President and CEO Scott Bores said. “We will not stop until every customer is restored.”
FPL is using drones and helicopters to inspect damage and has opened 16 staging, processing and parking sites across the affected region.
The utility said it is prioritizing hospitals, 911 call centers, police and fire stations before restoring main lines serving the largest numbers of customers. Crews will then move into smaller neighborhoods and the hardest-hit areas.
Central Florida crews assist with restoration
Central Florida utility workers are among those helping restore electricity in the Panhandle.
Kissimmee Utility Authority sent 12 linemen and a mechanic to DeFuniak Springs on Saturday to assist Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative.
The cooperative reported approximately 68,900 customers, representing about 90% of its system, lost power following the hurricane.
KUA said the deployment was made through its mutual-aid agreement with utilities across the country.
Residents should stay away from fallen power lines, flooding and debris. FPL urged people to assume every downed power line is energized and report outages through the utility’s website, app or outage hotline.
Outage totals can change quickly as utilities restore service and receive additional reports.
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