Fewer than 57,000 customers remain without power in counties covered by an emergency declaration following devastating storms that tore through the area Friday, as workers have begun making significant progress.
That number remained above 80,000 for most of Saturday. But the latest update from the Public Service Commission shows the number dropping sharply in several areas.
Gov. Ron DeSantis issued an executive order declaring a state of emergency in Baker, Columbia, Gadsden, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Liberty, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor and Wakulla counties.
As of a 6 p.m. update Saturday, Leon County — home to Tallahassee — remains by far the most impacted county, with nearly 49,000 customers lacking power.
But close to 20,000 customers have gotten their power restored since the previous update at 3 p.m., as the city hopes to get a bulk of the restorations done by Saturday evening.
The city of Tallahassee utility is showing nearly 44,000 customers still affected. The Talquin Electric Cooperative also has just over 4,800 Leon customers without power.
The second-most affected county is Suwannee, with more than 2,600 customers still powerless. Columbia County shows 1,200 outages, followed by Wakulla with just over 1,100.
No other county covered by the emergency order shows more than 1,000 outages as of Saturday at 6 p.m.
Talquin Electric is the second-most impacted utility after the city of Tallahassee. Talquin has just under 6,600 customers without power across Leon, Wakulla, Gadsden and Liberty Counties. Suwannee Valley has just over 4,000 customers affected in Suwannee, Hamilton and Columbia counties.
That’s followed by the Tri-County Electric Cooperative (865 outages in Jefferson, Madison and Taylor), Florida Power & Light (730 outages in Suwannee) and Okefenoke Rural Electric Membership Corporation (414 outages in Baker).
But the storm did affect more than just those counties covered by DeSantis’ emergency order. Santa Rosa County (2,400 outages), Escambia County (1,600 outages) and Duval Country (668 outages) still have many customers without power.
That puts the total number of customers lacking power due to the storm at just over 61,000.
Escambia River Electric Cooperative has 4,000 customers without power in Santa Rosa and Escambia counties. JEA, which services Duval, is dealing with all of the outages there.
The estimated restoration time is 24-48 hours for all of those affected, except for city of Tallahassee customers in Leon County. Workers there are still assessing damage before giving an estimate on when power will fully return.
The holdup in Tallahassee is partially caused by the serious damage done by tornado touchdowns. The city posted an update late Saturday morning laying out the impact.
“Tornadoes caused 286 blocked roads. Road clearing crews have worked nonstop and have cleared 178 in impacted neighborhoods. Work continues,” the city said.
Ryan Nicol covers news out of South Florida for Florida Politics. Ryan is a native Floridian who attended undergrad at Nova Southeastern University before moving on to law school at Florida State. After graduating with a law degree he moved into the news industry, working in TV News as a writer and producer, along with some freelance writing work. If you’d like to contact him, send an email to [email protected].
May 11, 2024 at 10:31 am
Good Morn ‘Ting Dook 4 Brains Leftys,
STAND BY FOR NEWS:
Our Sage Govornor always meets with the City & County officials whenever there is a disaster of any kind. This part of Florida is a small island of “Dook 4 Brains Lefty citizens who always vote in “Dook 4 Brains Leftys” into political office.
IN CLOSING:
Even though the local “Dooks” are rushing to take credit for the timely recovery efforts, Ladies & Gentelmen, and disgusting Dook 4 Brains Leftys, the locals would be mired in “Dook 4 Brains Leftist Failure” (Just like the Failed 8Iden Sad-Minisration) had “Ron The Ronald DeSantis and his Lovely Wife Casey not told the “Local Dooks” what to do & how to do it.
Please join me, Elvis Pitts American, in thanking Baby Jesus for putting Ron & Casey DeSantis in charge.
AND THAT AMERICA IS THE REST OF THE STORY:
Elvis Pitts American
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May 11, 2024 at 11:03 am
Pops you got the inside track. What has Gov Ron been praying for so much that he used up all his prayer capital and now storms are hitting all over, wreaking havoc willy nilly?
Is he praying for Mrs Rhonda not to leave him? If so, let’s figure out how to keep Mrs Rhonda happy so Ron can go back to praying for storms to go away and possibly seeing success.
Reply
May 11, 2024 at 11:00 am
FNG is activated for storm response. Great. How long is the drive back from Texas, and are the roads between there and here littered with downed trees and power lines and roofs and stuff? When will the FNG arrive? 3 weeks at best?
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May 11, 2024 at 1:25 pm
something sounds wrong about the power delay. here in tennessee, we know the weather’s coming, and then place the equipment and labor in ready to quickly respond. crews from out of state, why? if desantis’ mismanagement and placement of unqualified people in qualified positions is to blame, that is commonly called negligence.
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May 11, 2024 at 4:47 pm
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