Hurricane Irma poses a bigger menace to power supplies in Florida than Hurricane Harvey did in Texas because Irma is packing near 200 mph winds that could down power lines, close nuclear plants, and threatens to leave millions of homes and businesses in the dark for weeks.
Florida Power & Light (FPL) told CBS Miami that it’s expecting 4.1 million customers to be affected by power outages from Hurricane Irma.
That equates to about 9 million people, the report noted.
“That would be unprecedented for us and probably any utility,” FPL CEO Eric Silagy told the CBS affiliate Friday, Sept.8. “I want to reassure our customers that we are prepared for Hurricane Irma.”
He added: “We currently have an army, frankly, of 13,500 restoration workers, both FPL crews and outside crews ready to respond as soon as it’s safe to do so. Many of the linemen are coming from across the country including from as far away as California. We have prepositioned equipment and people getting ready to fight the aftermath of Irma.”
No workers will be put in jeopardy, he said.
“Unfortunately, there will be a period of time where we will have to hunker down and wait. We have to wait until the winds subside to 40 mph to get on the road, 35 mph to get buckets in the air,” Silagy continued.
