Almost 2.5 million customers in Florida are still without power a day after Hurricane Milton hammered the Sunshine State, according to PowerOutage.us, a platform that monitors power disruptions.
Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, about 70 miles south of Tampa, on Florida’s Gulf Coast as a Category 3 storm on Wednesday evening. The storm unleashed numerous tornadoes, wind speeds exceeding 100 miles per hour and more than 16 inches of rain in some areas.
As of Friday morning, at least 16 deaths have been confirmed, with rescue operations still ongoing.
Pinellas County was the hardest hit by percentage, with 81 percent of its tracked customers—totaling 460,544—still without power. In neighboring Hillsborough County, home to 1.5 million people, almost 500,000 outages were reported by early Friday.
Highlands County was also hard hit, with 72 percent of tracked customers reporting outages. Hardee County was similarly devastated, with 67 percent of its residents lacking electricity.
Polk County, adjacent to Hillsborough, had 137,496 outages, while Lee County was also severely affected, recording almost 200,000 outages.
In total, about 30 counties continue to experience widespread power outages.
At 5:56 a.m. on Friday, Florida Power and Light, which serves more than 12 million people across the state, provided an update on X, formerly Twitter. It assured customers that “restoration efforts continued overnight to restore your power.”
FPL spokesperson Jack Eble said, “Our crews have been working safely and as quickly as possible through a number of challenges, including flooding, debris and other hazards that Milton left behind.”
He continued: “Safety is our top priority right now, and we want you to share that commitment. Please keep safety top of mind, and we appreciate your patience and understanding as our crews continue to work through these challenges, and we will not stop until every last person has their power back on.”
People being rescued from an apartment complex in the aftermath of Hurricane Milton in Clearwater, Florida, on October 10. Efforts are underway to restore power to more than 2.5 million customers who are still in… Mike Stewart/AP
Residents are being advised to avoid flooded areas and downed power lines. “If you see a downed power line, treat it as energized and call 911 or FPL at 1-800-4-OUTAGE,” Eble said in an earlier update on X.
Outages can also be reported online at www.FPL.com/outage.
Despite its ongoing restoration efforts, FPL warned that many customers should prepare for extended outages. As of 4:17 p.m. Thursday, power had been restored to 730,000 customers, aided by an emergency workforce of 17,000 personnel from 41 states, the company said.
“Initial assessments show our investments in hardening and smart-grid technology have made a big difference, enabling our crews to restore more than 730,000 customers within hours of the storm exiting the state,” said Armando Pimentel, FPL’s president and CEO.
The devastation follows closely on the heels of Hurricane Helene, which hit two weeks prior and left millions of Americans without power for days.
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