SARASOTA COUNTY (WSNN) – When it comes to storms whether big or small, it’s important to plan for power outages. The Florida Power and Light Company is hosting a staging site at the Sarasota Fair Grounds with about 300 utility trucks.
“In total, we have a restoration workforce of about 7,000 that are spread up and down the coast, and they’ll be responding to outages safely and as quickly as possible throughout the storm,” FPL Spokesperson Richard Beltran said.
Utility trucks from all over the Southeastern U.S. like Louisiana, Alabama, and Georgia are spreading across the West Coast from Tampa to Naples where FPL expects to see the greatest impacts of Elsa.
“Oftentimes because it’s a tropical storm, we tend to let our guard down, but every storm poses its dangers,” Beltran said. “Customers should be alert, should keep safety top of mind, and be prepared to be out of power for some time.”
Beltran says you don’t need to report the outages because FPL’s smart grid lets the crews know where they need to go.
“The benefit of the investments we’ve made in the smart grid allows us to really restore power remotely and often even avoid outages for customers,” Beltran said.
Tree trimming crews along with FPL crews will be working around the clock to get the power back on. If the winds are below 35 miles an hour, the crews can restore the power during the storm.
“After 35 miles, it makes it a little dangerous for our crews to be in buckets restoring power,” Beltran said.
If you do experience de a power outage, rest assured, FPL plans to restore that power as soon as they can. For power restoration updates and on how to prepare for a storm, you can visit FPL’s website here.
