Three million without power as hurricane Milton batters Florida
Duke Energy’s restoration following Hurricane Helene. Image courtesy Duke Energy (October 8)
On the heels of the devastation from Hurricane Helene, Hurricane Milton made landfall in Florida yesterday, bringing with it extremely dangerous weather and outages for more than 3 million people to date.
According to the US National Hurricane Centre (NHC), Milton made landfall in Florida at 20:30pm EST with maximum sustained wind estimated of 120mph (193.121kmh).
Approximately 3 million people across central and west Florida are without power, with Florida Power & Light Company reporting just over 1 million customers, Duke Energy 704,346 and Tampa Electric 588,998, according to PowerOutage.us in a 4:07am CET update.
According to the NHC, with Milton came life-threatening storm surge, hurricane-force winds, and heavy rainfall which continue to bring risk of ‘catastrophic and life-threatening flash and urban flooding’, as well as major river flooding.
Milton comes weeks after Hurricane Helene hit on September 26, causing immense damage across the southeast US and bringing outages for millions, with over 97,000 homes and businesses still without power in Georgia and North Carolina, according to Reuters reportage.
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Outages despite intense preparations
Milton’s damage to the state’s power system came despite significant preparations from utilities, namely the three most affected.
Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), which has reported the most customers affected, had planned preparations to respond prior to the storm’s arrival, adding that crews would restore power between bands of severe weather as long as it is safe.
Prior to Milton, the utility set up 29 staging, parking and processing sites to help speed restoration, pre-positioned supplies, equipment and a restoration workforce of more than 17,000 men and women from 40 states and prepared crews to conduct damage assessments.
Duke Energy said they mobilised 16,000 resources to respond to over 1 million power outages across its service territory.
Tampa Electric Company (TECO) said they mobilised more than 5,000 utility workers from as far away as Texas and Minnesota to assist in assessing damage and restoring power once the storm passes.
The company anticipates adding more crew members in the coming days, marking the largest deployment TECO has ever organised for hurricane recovery.
Commenting in a release before Milton hit was Archie Collins, president and chief executive officer of Tampa Electric: “Hurricane Milton is expected to cause significant destruction across the region, leading to a longer restoration process than we’ve experienced in the past.
“We urge our customers to prioritize their safety. We will get through this together, but it will require patience, teamwork and determination. Our commitment to our customers is that we will work tirelessly to restore power safely and as quickly as possible after the storm. Please stay safe.”
