As of this morning, the Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) is reporting a total of 4,995 north Florida public power utility customers are without power following Hurricane Michael, which ravaged the Panhandle last week.
In the City of Tallahassee, 99 percent of the service area has been restored. Crews in Tallahassee continue to work on reconnecting power to the smaller circuits to bring the city to full restoration. The cities of Quincy and Chattahoochee are both nearly 50 percent restored and should exceed that percentage by day’s end. Mutual aid crews working in Tallahassee have been reassigned to assist with restoration efforts in Chattahoochee and Quincy, as well as some of the cooperative electric utilities that sustained damage.
Last night and ahead of schedule, Gulf Power was able to restore the transmission lines to the City of Blountstown’s electric utility, which will allow them to begin the process of restoring power restoration efforts to essential facilities followed by business and residential customers.
Through the American Public Power Association’s network of mutual aid, FMEA has been able to bring nearly 600 primarily public power personnel from 84 utilities in 16 states to Florida’s aid.
“This has become a true testament to the power of public power. Once again, in the aftermath of destruction and loss, we have pulled together to help our fellow public power communities. Public power utilities from across the state and country pooled their resources and provided the communities devastated by Michael with much needed assistance including line crews, storm managers, assessors, documenters, supplies and equipment. Together, we are rebuilding their electric systems,” said Amy Zubaly, FMEA Executive Director.
The Florida Municipal Electric Association (FMEA) represents the unified interests of 34 public power communities across the state, which provide electricity to more than 3 million of Florida’s residential and business consumers.
