Power outages down to 2.7 million homes, businesses

Power outages continue to plague just over one quarter of all the homes and businesses in Florida, though the number fell to almost 2.7 million customers Thursday morning.

A 6 a.m. update from the Florida Office of Emergency Management showed that those counties hit first and hardest by Hurricane Irma – Monroe, Collier and Lee – continue to see slow restoration of power. In Monroe, 82 percent of customers woke up without electricity, or 52,000 homes an businesses; in Collier it was 68 percent, or 167,000; and in Lee, 60 percent, or 264,000.

Miami-Dade County still had 320,000 homes and businesses without electricity, or 28 percent. In Broward County it was 217,000, or 23 percent. In Palm Beach County it was 171,000, or 22 percent.

In the Tampa Bay area, hard-hit Pinellas County was down to 187,000 customers without power, or 34 percent, while Hillsborough County was down to 73,000 without power, just 12 percent. In Pasco County, 59,000, or 22 percent of all homes and businesses were without power, and in Manatee County, 42,000, or 20 percent.

In Central Florida, Orange County’s powerless set had fallen to 129,000 homes and businesses, or 22 percent, and Seminole’s to 65,000, or 31 percent. Volusia County still had 93,000, or 33 percent of customers without electricity, and in Brevard County it was 95,000, or 31 percent. In Lake County, 38,000 customers, 22 percent, were without power, and in Osceola County, 12,000 had no power, 8 percent of the customer base.

In the Jacksonville area, Duval County’s rate of no power fell to 18 percent of the customer base, or 81,000 homes and businesses. In St. John’s County, 24 percent had no power, or 31,000 customers; and in Clay County, 23 percent or 22,000.