Over 93% residents get power restored after Idalia slams Florida Gulf Coast, DeSantis says

Power has been restored to more than 93% Florida residents who lost it after Hurricane Idalia — the first major hurricane to hit the Big Bend Coast in more than 125 years — caused widespread flooding, life-threatening storm surge and power outages, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Sunday.

Idalia made landfall Wednesday as a powerful Category 3 with destructive 125 mph winds, which led hundreds of thousands of Floridians to lose electricity.

Of the roughly 570,000 accounts that lost power after the hurricane, about 530,00 have had the precious service restored, according to DeSantis, adding that approximately 39,000 remain powerless through the region.

“A lot of progress has been made,” DeSantis said Sunday afternoon at the press conference in Levy County.

READ MORE: Hurricane Idalia swamps Florida’s Big Bend. Take a look at before-and-after snapshots

According to poweroutage.us, a website that compiles outage numbers, the counties with the most clients without power as of Sunday afternoon were:

▪ Swannee County: 11,609 out of 24,753

▪ Taylor County: 7,572 out of 13,765

▪ Madison County: 6,866 out of 11,470

▪ Hamilton County: 4,455 out of 7,059

▪ Dixie County: 3,248 out of 10,622

▪ Lafayette County: 2,461 out of 4,407

▪ Jefferson County: 911 out of 8,681

▪ Columbia County: 628 out of 35,765

▪ Gilchrist County: 147 out of 9,852

J. Alex Kelly, deputy chief of staff for the governor, said impacted communities should get their power back by late Tuesday. Levy County, which had 28 clients without power Sunday afternoon, will likely have it fully restored by the end of the day, he noted.