Utilities work to restore power as Idalia heads out to sea

Utility companies across Florida, Georgia, South Carolina and North Carolina are working to restore power as Hurricane Idalia heads out to sea.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday morning over Keaton Beach, Florida near Tallahassee as a Category 4 storm. The hurricane hit Florida’s Big Bend area with maximum sustained winds of nearly 125 miles per hour after intensifying over the Gulf of Mexico earlier this week. By late Wednesday afternoon it had lost strength and traveled up into Georgia as a tropical storm. Wednesday night it moved further north into South Carolina and then North Carolina. Forecasters says it the storm is projected to head out to sea on Thursday afternoon.

According to the Edison Electric Institute (EEI), as many as 669,400 customers across the four states were without power on Wednesday. More than 25,000 workers from 21 states and the District of Columbia worked to assess damage and restore power. However, within 24 hours of the storm making landfall, EEI said, nearly half of the customers impacted by Idalia had power restored. EEI said 338,000 customers had no power across the storm’s path as of 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

In Florida, Duke Energy Florida said its goal was to restore power to 95 percent of its impacted customers by Wednesday night. Those in the hardest hit areas, including customers who can’t get power because of damage or flooding, will have to wait until conditions are safe for the company to begin work in the area, officials said.

“We know this is a time of stress and loss for many Floridians,” said Todd Fountain, Duke Energy Florida storm director. “Our crews, contractors and support staff have made great progress restoring power to many customers today, we know we have more work to do in our hardest-hit areas. We will not stop until all customers who can safely receive power are restored. We thank our customers for their patience during this challenging time.”

Florida Power and Light said its crews worked through the night to restore power to more than 100,000 customers by Thursday morning. Another 28,000 customers were without power as of Wednesday morning at 11 a.m., the company said. More than 12,000 crew members from across Florida and from 16 other states worked from more than a dozen staging sights, the company said. The company said its goal was to have power restored to at least 95 percent of its customers who could receive it by Wednesday evening. In some areas, however, crews will have to wait for flood waters to recede, the company said.

“We understand how difficult it is to be without power,” FPL President and CEO Armando Pimentel said. “That’s why our dedicated men and women are working around the clock to restore power safely and as quickly as possible to get our customers’ lives back to normal. We urge customers to remain vigilant, as conditions remain dangerous.”

Further south, Tampa Electric said the storm had minimal impact on its West Central Florida customers. The company said 35,000 of its customers lost power Wednesday, but most of them had their power restored by daybreak. While the company had secured about 3,000 workers from other utilities, it released most of those crews on Wednesday to help other utility companies in harder-hit areas.

In Georgia, Georgia Power said it was working to clear the damage left in the hurricane’s wake.

“With Hurricane Idalia clearing our state, we have begun our full-scale damage assessment, along with immediate restoration efforts to restore power to customers,” the company said in a statement. “There has been significant damage due to high winds, heavy rain and fallen trees in the hardest hit areas in South and Coastal Georgia. Damage assessment marks the first, critical phase of the restoration process and will continue throughout the night. We have crews in the field working safely and as quickly as possible to fully assess damage, which will allow us to provide more accurate estimated restoration times by end of day Thursday for the hardest hit areas in the state.”

And in the Carolinas, crews began restoration efforts on Wednesday night. While the company had restored power to more than 60,000 customers by Thursday morning, another 20,000 remained without power. The company said it plans to restore power to all of its customers who can receive it by Thursday night.

“Duke Energy has more than 4,000 personnel in place to continue power restoration today,” Jason Hollifield, Duke Energy’s Carolinas storm director, said. “We are committed to working as quickly and safely as possible to get the lights back on for our customers and we thank them for their patience.”