Crews assess power outages in Marion County following Hurricane Idalia

MARION COUNTY, Fla. — Communities continue to see the number of customers without power drop throughout the day and into Wednesday night.

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Power has been restored to thousands in Marion County.

But thousands more are without power in the state’s hardest-hit areas tonight.

Dozens of crews moved line to line, restoring power in parts of the county.

Read: Significant damage reported in Cedar Key following Hurricane Idalia

Strong winds from Idalia pulled down branches and toppled trees, taking out power lines and transformer poles.

Resident Mike Cedeno said his power had been out since about 9 a.m.

“We heard a loud bang,” he said. “I looked outside the window and noticed one of the transformer poles fell in the road. We lost cable, internet (and) light. (The) only thing that’s up and running is water.”

Read: Crews in Crystal River rescue people stranded in Hurricane Idalia’s floodwaters

Duke Energy makes up the majority of those without power in the county.

The company couldn’t provide an estimated time for restoring all power in Central Florida.

But they did say several crews working in the county are now moving to areas like Gainesville and Florida’s panhandle.

Damage assessments are still ongoing in areas Idalia left flooded and in disrepair.

Read: Hurricane Idalia: Local, state agencies prepare to deploy to storm’s aftermath

As of Wednesday night, 300,000 Florida customers reported power outages.

Several outages are concentrated in Florida’s northern counties, including Taylor, Suwannee and Madison.

Duke Energy said it will release more information Thursday about when power will be restored to people living in those areas.

The spokesperson said they can’t see how bad the damage is in some parts of the state because of flooding.

Duke Energy’s goal is to restore power to all Florida customers by the end of the day Friday.

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Hurricane Idalia TARPON SPRINGS, FLORIDA - AUGUST 30: A person rides a kayak through the flooded streets caused by Hurricane Idalia passing offshore on August 30, 2023 in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Hurricane Idalia is hitting the Big Bend area of Florida. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images) (Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

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