FPL: Power restored to 60% who lost it
RIVIERA BEACH — Florida Power & Light said Wednesday it has restored power to 60 percent of the 5 million customer accounts — representing 10 million people — that suffered an outage during Hurricane Irma.
During its assault on Florida, Irma turned the lights off on 90 percent of FPL’s customers at some point. Some customers experienced multiple interruptions, pushing the total outages to 5.1 million.
FPL estimates that it will have restored power to essentially all of its customers along the east coast service territory by the end of this weekend, and for its customers along its west coast service territory by end of day Sept. 22, with the possible exception of
areas affected by tornadoes, severe flooding and other sections of severe damage.
The utility also acknowledged that its customer information websites also have faced challenges.
FPL said it has had issues with FPL.com and the FPL mobile app due to extremely high volume and is working to resolve the situation. Customers should call FPL at 800-4OUTAGE (800-4688243) only to report conditions such as downed power lines or sparking electrical equipment. Call 911 for life-threatening emergencies.
In what was “Day Two” of the restoration effort, with more than 20,000 workers from more than 30 states and Canada, FPL spokesman Rob Gould said that at the same time in the post-Hurricane Wilma restoration in 2005 only 13 percent of outages had been resolved.
“That is small solace for anybody who is still without their lights. We get that. We are not resting on our laurels. We are aggressively restoring power,” Gould said. “It is possible your neighbor across the street has power and you don’t.”
“We are seeing mostly debris and tree damage across the territory,” Gould said. “We are not seeing the level of damage, particularly on the west coast, that we expected to see.”
Gould said the $3 billion FPL spent on strengthening the grid has paid off, and that’s why there isn’t as much infrastructure damage as with Wilma. Customers pay for the costs of restorations through fees on their bills.
Irma’s winds took down a couple of hundred poles, while Wilma felled 10,000 to 11,000 poles, Gould said. No transmission structures or substations were damaged.
“Not one concrete pole has gone down as a result of wind,” Gould said.
Instead, the poles that have toppled did so after trees hit lines and pulled poles down.
Lake Worth Utilities, the only other electric utility in Palm Beach County, has restored power to more than 7,000 of its 27,000 customers, city spokesman Ben Kerr said Wednesday.
Highland Elementary, Walmart, the Casino and beach areas, downtown, the tie line into FPL’s grid, half of Palm Beach State College and the Solar Field circuit were restored Tuesday.
“We expect a few more circuits to come back on this afternoon,” Kerr said.
“At this time we are not giving any estimated restoration time as there are too many variables to provide an accurate estimate,” Kerr said. “Crews are working hard and won’t stop until every customer has power.”
Utility crews from Alabama, Illinois and Oklahoma crews were working Wednesday. An additional 18 crews from Minnesota will begin soon, for a total of another 48 men, Kerr said.
“They will be released from work in Kissimmee, sometime between mid-morning and noon, at which time they will be heading our way,” Kerr said.
Outside crews and the city’s crews combined total 103 workers on the ground from Wednesday until the restoration is complete.
OnWednesday,though,FPL also responded to the deaths of eight people who resided at a Hollywood Hills nursing home where Irma knocked out power. FPL officials said the facility was not on the list of top-tier infrastructure facilities Broward County provided them in March.
FPL spokesman Gould said: “What we have seen is something extremely tragic.
It points to the need for having plans in advance. Our deepest sympathies go out to the families of those who have lost their lives.”
More than 100 patients were evacuated Wednesday from the Rehabilitation Center at Hollywood Hills and transported to nearby hospitals.
“I can’t speak to the specifics just now,” Gould said. “We do know we had portions of the facility energized.”
Gould urged anyone who is dependent on electricity for medical needs to go to a shelter or call 911.
“We need to make sure we don’t see any more tragedies occur,” Gould said.
“We meet with the county officials in every county well in advance. We met with Broward in early March. This facility was not listed as a top-tier critical infrastructure facility,” Gould said.
Memorial Regional Hospital across the street is listed as a top-tier critical infrastructure facility. Those facilities are given priority in power restorations.