Utilities restore power to roughly 51 percent of Gulf Coast customers in wake of Hurricane Sally

With the passing of Category 2 Hurricane Sally through the Gulf Coast, utilities have had their work cut out for them in dealing with power outages, but as of last night, crews from various utilities had restored power to nearly 299,000 customers, 51 percent of those affected.

The outages came as a result of heavy rains, severe flooding, and storm surge that battered the region. Edison Electric Institute (EEI) utilities in the area promptly activated emergency response plans, and utilities moved to support one another through mutual assistance networks. More than 11,000 workers have headed to the scene to aid restoration throughout Alabama, Georgia, and Florida.

EEI reported that, as of 9 a.m. Friday morning, approximately 286,000 customers were still without power, primarily in Alabama and the Florida Panhandle.

Gulf Power tapped 7,000 employees to restore power to more than 40 percent of customers impacted by Hurricane Sally within the first day of its exit from the company’s service area, despite heavy traffic and closed/damaged roads hindering efforts. This means approximately 126,000 customers had power again as of last night, but 157,000 remain without, largely in Florida’s Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. It has restored power to all customers who can receive it in Bay, Jackson, Holmes, and Washington counties, and Walton County customers were expected to have power by night’s end.

“We know that in the wake of a hurricane, customers want to know when they will get their lights back on,” Marlene Santos, president of Gulf Power, said. “Our crews worked throughout the night and day restoring power and conducting assessments of damage to the energy grid so we could provide the best estimates of power restoration for our customers. We have a workforce of 7,000 committed to restoring power, and you have our commitment that we will continue to work around the clock until every customer is restored.”

Gulf Power expects 95 percent of customers who can receive power in the hardest-hit areas to be back online as of Sept. 22. It intends to provide more personalized estimates, area by area, as of Sept. 18.

The resources of Southern Company have hit the ground throughout the region, but in particular in Alabama, where more than 660,000 Alabama Power customers, mostly in the Mobile area, were left in the dark after Hurricane Sally. By yesterday morning, 136,000 remained without power. Georgia Power — another Southern Company subsidiary — reported that 28,000 remained without power as of 11 a.m. Thursday morning, while Mississippi Power had restored power to all of those impacted in its service area who could safely receive power and began dispatching its crews to Alabama.