As of Sept. 19, Florida Power & Light Co. had restored service to more than 4.3 million customers, or more than 97 percent of the 4.4 million customers impacted by Hurricane Irma. Roughly 130,000 customers remain without power.
"Our expanded workforce of thousands of employees, contractors and partners from across the country and Canada continue to work around the clock to restore service to every customer who remains without power tonight," said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "While our restoration crews continue to make progress, we are keenly aware that customer patience for those without their lights and air conditioning tonight is beyond worn thin. We sincerely appreciate the support and understanding our crews are receiving from so many, including those who have been without power since Irma struck. We remain firm in our commitment that we will not let up until everyone's lights are back on."
Bradford, Union, Clay, Duval, St. Johns, Flagler, Volusia, Seminole, Brevard, Orange, Osceola, Columbia, Indian River, St. Lucie, Martin, Palm Beach, Okeechobee and Hardee counties are all essentially restored – meaning more than 99 percent of customers who were affected by Irma are restored. Customers who do not have power in these counties should report their outages online at FPL.com/outage. The remaining outages in these areas may require specialized work to repair significant damage from Irma's fierce winds, tornadoes and strong storm surge. In addition, some of the outages may be the result of normal, day-to-day activity and not related to Irma.
Miami-Dade County is 97 percent restored, Broward County is 99 percent restored and restoration efforts in Northeast Florida from Putnam County north through Nassau County are on track or ahead of schedule. In Southwest Florida, power restoration is 85 percent complete or higher in Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, DeSoto, Lee and Glades counties. Hendry County is 75 percent restored and more than 78 percent of customers are restored in Collier County, where Irma made landfall and inflicted the worst damage.
Restoration continues on track for all counties. Estimated times of restoration by county can be viewed at FPL.com/powertracker. Exceptions could occur in areas throughout Florida that were impacted by tornadoes, severe flooding, and heavy tree and debris damage. There may also be instances in which a customer's home or business is structurally damaged and unable to safely accept power.
Customers may experience limited outages over the coming weeks and months due to weakened trees and branches that could impact power lines and electric equipment. FPL crews will continue to make needed repairs as they are identified.
FPL has established walk-up sites for our customers in several communities. These sites provide charging stations, water, Wi-Fi, ice, community service and restoration information, and customer service assistance.
Converging crews into the hardest-hit areas
With major power lines and critical infrastructure now restored, crews are converging into the hardest-hit areas and working 24/7 to restore smaller groups of outages in thousands of neighborhoods across the state. As areas along the East Coast are completed, more and more crews are supplementing existing crews in areas with remaining outages, including Miami-Dade County and Southwest Florida.
Restoration personnel continue to find widespread damage in the hardest-hit communities, including whole trees pulling down power lines and isolated flooding preventing crews and equipment from getting in to make the necessary repairs. In many cases, crews are spending hours clearing trees and debris before it is safe to reach power lines and begin work.