Utility crews swiftly restore power to thousands along Gulf Coast following Hurricane Zeta

Throughout the Gulf Coast, utility crews have worked quickly to restore power to thousands after Hurricane Zeta made landfall Wednesday evening, brushing across the Florida panhandle and the Carolinas and moving west through Georgia, Louisiana, and Texas.

The Category 2 hurricane included sustained winds around 110 mph — 1 mph shy of a Category 3 storm. The fast-moving storm brought hurricane-force winds, rain, flooding, and dangerous storm surges.

Entergy, which reported power restoration to more than 100,000 within 24 hours after the storm cut power to approximately 481,000 customers. Significant damage was wrought on the electrical system, particularly to the New Orleans area, including damage to around 320 poles, 80 transformers, and 350 spans of wire, by the company’s estimation.

Entergy had more than 5,000 workers deployed on Thursday, with crews split between damage assessment, fallen tree trimming, and power restoration. Critical infrastructure is being prioritized, and despite the gains, the company notes that history indicates it could be up to 10 days before all customers have their power back. However, most will regain it much sooner, the utility reported.

Similar scenes were underway in Florida, with Gulf Power. There, crews totaling more than 2,300 people — including 1,300 outside resources — spent day and night bringing things back online. As of 10 a.m. Thursday, it had restored service to nearly 43,700 customers of more than 51,200 affected by the storm, primarily in Escambia and Santa Rosa counties.

“We were fortunate that Hurricane Zeta was a quick-moving storm and did not cause as much damage and power outages as Hurricane Sally did a month ago,” Marlene Santos, president of Gulf Power, said. “However, we understand how difficult it is to be without power, and we want our customers experiencing outages to know that our expanded restoration team of more than 2,300 will continue to work until every customer’s power is restored.”

Such news repeated throughout the South, including work in Texas, where Xcel Energy reported almost 85 percent of its 134,000 impacted customers had power again by 11:30 p.m. Thursday. In North and South Carolina, Duke Energy reported more than 500,000 customers lost power. As of 5 p.m. Thursday, its more than 2,600 person repair crews had restored power to thousands, but 369,000 customers remained without power.