Florida Power & Light mobilizes restoration workforce ahead of potential Hurricane Irma landfall
Florida Power & Light (FPL) recently announced that it mobilized a restoration workforce of 11,000 employees and contractors and activated 20 staging sites in preparation for the potential landfall of Hurricane Irma.
The company has already begun to place crews and equipment in the areas that are expected to be hit the hardest. It is also working to secure additional support and resources from out-of-state utilities and electrical contracting companies.
“We continue to pre-position an army of line and vegetation workers across the state where they can make
the biggest impact as soon as it is safe to do so,” Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL, said. “Due to the strength and magnitude of Irma, our service area will likely see widespread and substantial destruction that will require crews to literally rebuild parts of our electric system.”
FPL also urged its customers to prepare for the storm and heed all safety warnings and evacuation orders. Customers should expect prolonged and perhaps multiple power outages during the storm, the company said. Silagy also said that repairs to restore power could take days and rebuilding the electric system could take weeks.
“Now is not the time to take a chance,” Silagy said. “We are taking this storm extremely seriously and we urge our customers to do the same. Customers should finalize preparations for their homes and families, heed warnings and evacuation orders and keep a close eye on the development of the storm.”
