Power Restored To All 4.4 Million In Florida: FPL

MIAMI, Fl — Florida Power & Light said on Friday that power had been restored to all of the utility's 4.4 million customers who were impacted by Hurricane Irma across Florida, the largest such disruption in the company's history. The announcement came less than two weeks after the massive storm plowed a path of destruction through the Sunshine State. FPL also said that it was releasing the majority of utility and contract workers who assisted in restoring power from across the United States and Canada.

That includes 1,020,255 customers in Miami-Dade, 794,560 in Broward, 680,790 in Palm Beach, 210,020 in Collier County, 259,350 in Lee County, 90 in Monroe and 9,690 in Hendry Counties.

FPL's Bill Orlove told Patch that restoration was completed by Friday morning. He said that any outages that still appear on the company's outage tracker website were unrelated to the storm. The power company reported (For more hurricane news or local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from Miami Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

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"I cannot thank our customers enough for their patience, support and understanding, particularly those who were without power the longest," said FPL President and CEO Eric Silagy. "Hurricane Irma was unprecedented by almost every measure – including its size and scope, destructive power and slow movement."

FPL had set a target of restoring power to all Florida customers by the end of the day Friday.

"Irma's fierce winds, strong storm surge and flooding knocked out power to more than 4.4 million FPL customers, the largest ever in our history," added Silagy. "But, we pulled together and completed the fastest restoration of the largest amount of people by any one utility in U.S. history."

The power company said that it had restored the first million customers even before Hurricane Irma had left FPL's service territory. Another two million customers were restored by the end of the first full day of restoration.

"The vast majority of customers had their power back on within a week of Irma's passing – but as is the case in any major restoration effort of Irma's magnitude, there are some areas where restoration was more difficult and time-consuming," FPL explained.

Restoration crews faced uprooted trees, flooded roads, damaged roofs, salt contamination in electrical equipment and angry customerrs.

"FPL assembled and pre-positioned the largest restoration workforce in U.S. history – and then continued to amass an army that at its peak numbered more than 28,000 hardworking men and women from 30 states and Canada who worked around the clock to get our communities back to normal," the company said.
"Crews found extensive vegetation challenges in the hardest-hit areas, including fallen trees pulling down power lines and dense debris blocking roadways," FPL added. "In some cases, crews spent hours and days removing debris before it was safe for restoration workers to access equipment and begin making repairs. In anticipation of the massive vegetation challenges, FPL brought in twice as many tree trimming crews to support the Irma restoration effort compared with Hurricane Wilma in 2005."

"The damage from this powerful and slow-moving storm is staggering, and that fact continues to be reinforced as our crews collapse further into the hardest-hit areas along Florida's West Coast," said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. "In Arcadia, for example, approximately 30 restoration personnel are working several days to repair 30 sections of line and install two dozen poles to restore service to a handful of customers. These men and women are facing extraordinary circumstances, including navigating tornado damage and extensive flooding that has left the area seemingly unrecognizable."

Silogy had previously said that a worker was seriously injured while restoring power near Sarasota on Wednesday. The worker is employed by FirstEnergy Corp.

Photo courtesy Florida Power & Light