A.G. Gancarski
In the wake of Hurricane Helene, people on the Gulf Coast and throughout North Florida are still awaiting the return of their utility service.
As of 8:00 AM Saturday, more than 470,000 accounts are without power throughout the state, with a few rural counties dealing with the most profound challenges. Since multiple people are on many of these accounts, it’s hard to say how many individuals are waiting for electricity this morning.
Yet some counties are completely in the dark.
In Lafayette County, just two of the nearly 4,500 accounts are online.
More than 7,100 accounts in Hamilton are out, with just five getting electricity Saturday morning.
Taylor, which suffered the landfall of a hurricane for a third time in roughly a year, has almost 14,000 accounts, with roughly 30 getting current at this writing.
Jefferson has more than 8,800 accounts, but less than 100 are online.
In Madison, there are more than 11,500 accounts, but again, less than 100 are online.
Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist, and Levy Counties are all well over 50% impacted.
The providers dealing with the worst of it right now: Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative, which has just 130 accounts of a total of nearly 29,000 online at this writing; and Central Florida Electrical Cooperative, which has 24,402 accounts out with a little more than 12,000 online.
These numbers will decline in the coming days.
