Tropical Storm Elsa fails to flounder Southeast utilities

Crews from Florida Power & Light Co. (FPL), Georgia Power, and Duke Energy Florida hastily and efficiently are restoring power to customers in several states following the wrath on Wednesday of Tropical Storm Elsa, which is bringing heavy rain and the potential for storm surge and isolated tornadoes across the Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast regions of the country through Friday.

“Electric companies that were first impacted by Tropical Storm Elsa are making repairs where needed to restore power to customers safely and as quickly as possible,” Scott Aaronson, vice president of Security & Preparedness at the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), which represents all U.S. investor-owned electric companies, told Daily Energy Insider.

Because Elsa is a fast-moving and dangerous storm that is moving up the East Coast, Aaronson said, “EEI’s member companies in her path have activated their emergency response plans and have crews staged and ready to assess damage, clear downed trees and branches, and make repairs as soon as it is safe to do so.” 

In fact, workforces with FPL, Georgia Power, and Duke Energy Florida quickly started responding to Elsa after it made landfall late Wednesday morning near Steinhatchee, Fla., about 75 miles southeast of Tallahassee, and they are continuing to dispatch essential employees as the tropical storm travels north along the East Coast. 

Crews from Duke Energy Florida — the Duke Energy subsidiary providing electric capacity to some 1.9 million customers — worked throughout the day yesterday to restore damage and power outages as Elsa made landfall Wednesday along Florida’s northwest coast.

“We’re thankful for our crews and contractors helping restore power to those impacted by #Elsa in Florida,” the company tweeted on July 7. “We’re continuing to monitor the storm’s path and potential impacts on the Carolinas. If you’re in the path of the storm, please plan and prepare now.”

At the peak of the storm on July 7 at 5 a.m. EST, there were 7,345 customer outages, and crews have also restored more than 28,000 storm outages, according to the company.

Duke Energy, which has employees in multiple states, strategically staged about 3,000 of its crew members, contractors, tree specialists, and other personnel from Florida, Indiana, Kentucky, Ohio, and the Carolinas in advance of the storm.

“We were ready for the worst-case scenario that could happen when our customers are in the path of a hurricane or tropical storm,” said Todd Fountain, Duke Energy Florida’s storm director. “We are happy that this time the conditions did not result in widespread outages. Still, we want those customers whose service was affected to know we’re working hard for them.”

At press time, Duke Energy had released employees from the Carolinas who traveled to Florida in advance of the storm so they are available to assist with Elsa-related outages in their home states, while employees from Indiana, Kentucky, and Ohio will be released later today and prepare to travel home tomorrow, the company said.

Similarly, FPL prepared by pre-positioning more than 7,000 personnel to respond to outages across the state caused by Tropical Storm Elsa.

“After preparing extensively throughout the holiday weekend for Tropical Storm Elsa, our restoration workforce is responding to outages as they occur and following the path of the storm,” said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL. “These brave men and women will continue to work in between bands of severe weather as long as it is safe to do so, and they won’t stop until everyone’s lights are back on.” 

FPL, which serves more than 5.6 million customer accounts supporting more than 11 million residents across Florida, said its customers on Florida’s west coast and throughout the state started feeling the initial effects of Elsa’s severe weather bands during Wednesday’s early morning hours.

“It’s important to remember that you don’t need to be in the direct path of the storm to be affected, so don’t fall into the trap of fixating on the storm’s forecast cone,” warned Silagy. “Elsa’s outer bands of severe weather can cause trees, vegetation, and flying debris to fall or blow into power lines and create restoration challenges.”

Meanwhile, Georgia Power continues to assess the damage and restore power following Elsa’s blast through the Peach State.

Georgia Power, which is the largest electric subsidiary of the publicly traded Southern Company serving 2.6 million customers in all but four of Georgia’s 159 counties, said the majority of outages reported in coastal Georgia were due to fallen trees and downed power lines caused by Elsa’s high winds, heavy rain and reported tornadoes.

As of 11:30 a.m. EST on Thursday, roughly 6,350 customers were without power as a result of the storm, with the majority of the outages in Chatham, Effingham, and Glynn counties in southeast Georgia, the electric utility reported. 

Hundreds of Georgia Power personnel are assisting in restoration efforts, and the company has mobilized crews from other parts of the state to assist in those efforts, as well. The company expects to have power restored for 95 percent of its customers by 10 p.m. EST tonight.

According to the National Hurricane Center, Elsa today will finish pummeling the Southeast and continue up the East Coast with heavy rains, gusty winds, and possible tornadoes through Friday. Tropical storm warnings have been extended north to portions of New England.