Gulf Power expects 95% power restoration in Escambia County by midnight Monday

Gulf Power crews replace an old pole with a new one in Pensacola.

Gulf Power, the major power provider in hurricane-ravaged Northwest Florida, expects to restore power to 95% of Escambia County customers by midnight Monday.

The progress report comes less than a week after Hurricane Sally dumped heavy rain and caused widespread flooding across the northwest portion of the Florida Panhandle.

In a news release, Gulf Power said power currently is restored to over 85% of Escambia County Customers.

“Our crews have continued to make good progress and, in many cases, they have exceeded our original estimated restoration times,” said Gulf Power President Marlene Santos. “Our entire workforce is focused on restoring service for those customers hardest hit in Escambia County. You have our commitment that we will continue to work around the clock until every customer is restored.”

Escambia and Santa Rosa County were two of the hardest hit counties in Florida’s panhandle. While Gulf Power says power is “essentially restored” in Santa Rosa County, more than 20,280 Escambia County customers remain without power as of Monday morning.

Santos said they restoration process has been made easier by several local businesses who’ve housed linecrews.

“One of the reasons we’ve been able to progress more quickly is because our crews have been able to be more productive by being housed closer to where they need to work,”  Santos said. “We couldn’t have achieved this without the support of the many businesses who have helped provide space for thousands of our storm crew members.”

Santos gave thanks to the YMCA in downtown Pensacola, Pensacola Fairgrounds, Pensacola State College and Ellyson Industrial for their support.

In all, Gulf Power identified 285,440 customers who lost power during Sally, which made landfall as a Category 2 storm. In the hours after Sally passed, Gov. Ron DeSantis identified power restoration and reconstruction as an immediate priority.

The Governor said more than 7,000 linemen and women were working around the clock to impacted areas.

No fatalities have been reported in the storm’s aftermath.