Electric crews finishing restoration in Orlando area — except for homes too damaged or flooded
Orlando area electric utilities are done or on their homestretch in returning power to homes and businesses cut off by Ian, a tropical storm by the time it tracked just south of the region.
Duke Energy stated Monday afternoon that it has restored nearly 1 million of its 1.9 million customers in the state and by the end of the day will have all outages repaired except for those involving extensive damage or flooding.
The second largest in Florida, the utility reported 15,000 customers across its territory had not been returned to the power grid Monday afternoon but did not specify how many of those were expected to be restored by midnight.
“We are aware of less than 200 homes in Orange County which are in a flooded area and cannot receive power,” said Audrey Stasko, a utility spokesperson. “For perspective we serve more than 400,000 customers in Orange County.”
Duke got help from 10,000 personnel from other organizations from as far as Canada. Those and Duke workers will be made available for helping out elsewhere in Florida, Stasko said.
“We still have work to do in some flooded areas, and we’ll be able to restore service there as soon as it is safe to do so,” Duke’s president in Florida, Melissa Seixas, said in a statement.
Orlando Utilities Commission, serving 260,000 customers in Orlando, St. Cloud and surrounding areas, reported late Monday that all had been returned to service except those with flooding problems or damage.
An OUC spokesperson said 306 in Orange and 48 in Osceola counties have not been reconnected because of flooding or damage.
The municipal utility brought in 65 safety evaluators from the Orlando area and 162 line personnel from Ohio, Michigan, Illinois, Missouri, Arkansas, Alabama, Indiana, Georgia and Tallahassee.
Additionally, 49 tree trimmers came from Tennessee, Georgia and West Virginia.
All of that workforce brought in for Ian’s aftermath has been released from OUC service.
The pockets of flooding or damage where customers remain without power include: Cherokee Drive and Summerlin Avenue, Vargas Street, South Ivanhoe Boulevard, President Barack Obama Parkway and Lenox Boulevard, North Goldwyn Avenue and West Colonial Drive, Texas Avenue south of New Hampshire, South Texas Avenue and Emperor Drive, South Texas Avenue and West Oak Ridge Road, Poinsettia Avenue and Shady Lane Drive, North Mills Avenue and Lakeshore Drive, Pomelo Drive and Vanguard Street, John Young Parkway and Colonial Drive, Raleigh Street and Lenox Boulevard, Texas Avenue and Forest Club Drive, and Piedmont Court and Cadogan Avenue.
Winter Park’s municipal utility declared its restoration for 15,000 customers as complete on Sunday.
Mayor Phil Anderson credited the city’s effort to relocate electric utility infrastructure to underground, now about 73 percent complete, as a decisive difference with Ian.
“At the height of the storm, approximately 3,800 electric utility customers were without power. In comparison, during the peak of Hurricane Irma in 2017, more than 9,000 customers were out of power,” Anderson said in a statement to customers.
“This difference in power outages from 2017 to 2022, and the city’s ability to respond quickly, is due to the city’s commitment to underground its power lines that began in 2008, three years after the city acquired the utility in 2005,” Anderson said.
Kissimmee Utilities Authority, with nearly 90,000 customers in north Osceola County, also had said its restoration work is complete except for flooded areas, including the Good Samaritan Village, North Central-Woodside and McLaren neighborhoods.
A spokesperson said 1,024 customers were still without power and most of those are in Good Samaritan Village.
