After Hurricane Dorian inflicted widespread destruction in the Bahamas, the storm threatened Florida and neighboring states with tropical-force winds, heavy rain and the potential for storm surges and flooding. In response, Florida Power & Light (FPL) assembled the largest pre-restoration workforce in its history with 17,000 FPL and mutual assistance and contractor workers standing by, ready to restore power and rebuild infrastructure when the hurricane makes landfall.
FPL crews will restore power once the severe weather hits, as long as they are working in safe conditions. They will then work continuously following the storm until all the lights are back on.
"Dorian remains a very dangerous hurricane with an unpredictable track and intensity as it inches toward Florida. Customers should stay vigilant as significant parts of our service territory remain within the cone of uncertainty," says Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "This is a challenging and very slow-moving storm that will impact our service area with tropical-storm-force winds for an extended duration. Rest assured, as long as it is safe to do so, our crews will be out restoring power as the first bands of severe weather move through, and we'll work continuously after the storm clears until all customers have power again."
FPL has undertaken a massive logistics operation to prepare for Dorian. The company has pre-staged:
- Sleeper trailers with more than 4,000 beds.
- Almost 60 drone teams.
- Thousands of pre-positioned transformers and poles.
- 75 fuel trucks able to supply more than 3.5 million gallons of fuel.
FPL has set up more than a dozen staging sites, from the Calder Race Course in Miami-Dade County to north of Jacksonville, Florida, so that workers will be in place to restore power safely and as quickly as possible.
This photo gallery takes a look at some of the many ways FPL has prepared for Hurricane Dorian.