JUNO BEACH, Fla., Sept. 19, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- As of this
evening, Florida Power & Light
Company (FPL) has restored service to nearly all of its 4.4 million
customers, or nearly 99 percent, impacted by Hurricane Irma.
"As we have said from the beginning, the latter part of any
restoration, particularly one of this scope and magnitude, is
always the most challenging," said Eric
Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "Massive downed trees,
flooded areas, tornado damage and other significant obstacles
continue to challenge our more than 28,000 men and women who have
been working 16-hour days in the blazing summer heat and humidity
to restore service. We sincerely thank those still without power
for what little patience and understanding may remain and assure
you that we are working around-the-clock to get the lights and air
conditioning back on.
"We also recognize that the crews working to restore service may
not always be readily visible given work locations may be
behind homes or in tree-lined areas. This can create a false
impression that we are not attacking the situation, which couldn't
be farther from the truth. In fact, in Miami-Dade County, we will tomorrow have more
than 6,500 restoration workers, including 2,000 who will be
deployed to Southwest Florida as
soon as they finish their work. These crews will finish up the few
remaining jobs in areas such as Coral
Gables, which for many years, has placed restrictions on our
efforts to trim trees and harden our electric
system. Unfortunately, for our customers in that area, they
are now paying the price in terms of extended outages. Needless to
say, we are anxious to complete this part of the process so that we
can finally move our forces across the state and complete
restoration for our Southwest customers."
In the North, service has been restored to essentially all
customers in Suwannee,
Columbia, Alachua, Union, Bradford, Baker, Nassau, Duval, Clay,
Putnam, St. Johns, Flagler and Volusia counties – meaning more than 99.9
percent of customers who were affected by Irma are
restored.
In Central Florida, service has
been restored to essentially all customers in Seminole, Orange, Brevard, Osceola, Indian
River, St. Lucie,
Okeechobee and Martin
counties.
Along Florida's eastern coast, service has been restored to
essentially all customers in Palm
Beach and Broward counties.
Miami-Dade County is 99.7 percent
restored.
In Southwest Florida,
Manatee, Hardee, Sarasota and Charlotte are essentially restored. Power
restoration is 87 percent complete or higher in DeSoto, Highlands, Glades and Lee counties. Hendry
County is 90 percent restored and 83 percent of customers
are restored in Collier County,
where Irma made landfall and inflicted the worst damage.
Restoration continues on track for all counties. 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. In
addition, some of the outages may be the result of normal,
day-to-day activity and not related to Irma. Customers who live in
a county where power is essentially restored, but do not currently
have electricity, should report their outage at FPL.com/outage.
Customers may experience outages over the coming weeks and
months due to weakened trees and branches that could fall impacting
power lines and electric equipment. In addition, significant wind
speeds have loosened electrical connections throughout the system
that can lead to increased outages following the storm. Some FPL
customers have already experienced repeated outages since Irma
struck due to this situation. 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. Please visit FPL.com/powertracker to see
locations and times.
Restoration challenges in the hardest-hit areas
As
restoration efforts in some parts of our service territory wrap up,
crews are converging into the hardest-hit areas, where they are
focusing on restoring remaining outages. Oftentimes, this type of
work requires hours of exhaustive, manual labor in order to get
only a handful of customers back into service.
"Our crews are up against extraordinary circumstances as they
work street-by-street and house-by-house to restore power," said
Silagy. "In some cases, they must carry heavy equipment through
waist deep-water, only then to have to hoist and maneuver equipment
into place as they climb 30-foot power poles. In other instances,
workers have suffered dog bites, mosquitoes and bee stings,
including a swarm that inflicted more than 500 bee stings to one
worker. These are just a few examples of the operating conditions
our restoration workers are finding themselves in."
Tree damage, dense vegetation and limited access continue to be
a challenge in many parts along Florida's East Coast. In Palmetto
Bay, for example, three poles needed to be replaced after fallen
trees crashed into them. Due to space constraints, crews were
forced to use a large crane to lift a power pole over homes and
into place.
"This is a story that is repeating itself across our service
territory as we grapple with extremely large trees and related
debris," said Silagy. "As a result, we have doubled-down on our
resources to tackle this challenge head-on. We have more than twice
as many tree crews working this restoration effort as compared with
Hurricane Wilma in 2005."
FPL will continue to communicate restoration information through
the media and online via FPL.com, Facebook and Twitter. Customers
should call FPL at 1-800-4OUTAGE (1-800-468-8243) only to report
conditions such as downed power lines or sparking electrical
equipment. Call 911 for life-threatening emergencies.
Be certain your home or business is ready to receive
power
If the power is on next door but yours is not, make
certain that your home or business is ready to receive it by
checking the connection to FPL.
- Look at the meter, the box that holds it, and connected pipes
and wires on the wall of the building.
- If the meter box, pipes or wires are bent or broken, repairs
may be needed before FPL can restore power. If it looks damaged,
contact a licensed electrician. Do not touch damaged
equipment.
- If the meter itself is damaged, restoration workers will
replace it.
Please stay safe and help us keep crews safe
We urge
you to continue taking the following safety precautions:
- Please heed Florida's Move Over Law that requires drivers to
move over and slow down whenever there is a utility worker, law
enforcement officer or a first responder on the side of the
road.
- Stay far away from downed power lines, flooding and debris;
lines could be energized and dangerous.
- Use extreme caution while driving. Power interruptions may
cause traffic signals to stop working without warning. If you come
to an intersection with a non-working traffic signal, Florida law
requires that you treat it as a four-way stop.
How to stay informed
FPL communicates restoration
information to customers frequently through the news media and the
following resources:
- Power Tracker: FPL.com/powertracker
- FPL website: FPL.com
- Twitter: twitter.com/insideFPL
- Facebook: facebook.com/FPLconnect
- FPL blog: FPLblog.com
- FPL Mobile App: Download from the App Store or Google Play
Visit FPL.com/storm for the latest restoration
information.
Florida Power &
Light Company
Florida Power
& Light Company is the third-largest electric utility in
the United States, serving nearly
5 million customer accounts or an estimated 10 million people
across nearly half of the state of Florida. FPL's typical 1,000-kWh
residential customer bill is approximately 25 percent lower than
the latest national average and, in 2016, was the lowest in
Florida among reporting utilities
for the seventh year in a row. FPL's service reliability is better
than 99.98 percent, and its highly fuel-efficient power plant fleet
is one of the cleanest among all utilities nationwide. The company
received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric
providers, according to the J.D. Power 2016 Electric Utility
Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM, and was
recognized in 2017 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric
utilities by Market Strategies International. A leading Florida
employer with approximately 8,900 employees, FPL is a subsidiary of
Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra
Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized
for its efforts in sustainability, ethics and diversity, and has
been ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in
Fortune's 2017 list of "World's Most Admired Companies." NextEra
Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC,
which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world's
largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun. For
more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these
websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com,
www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.
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SOURCE Florida Power & Light
Company