Jacob Ogles
Nearly 863 Florida customers were without power shortly after Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key.
A 9 p.m. update from the Florida Public Service Commission shows more than 7% of all Florida power customers in the dark as the Category 3 hurricane begins its move across the Florida peninsula.
That includes more than 434,000 Florida Power & Light (FPL) customers, almost 160,000 Duke Energy users, almost 104,000 Tampa Electric Company (TECO) subscribers, more than 143 on one of Florida’s electric co-op networks and more than 21,000 on city power.
More than 160,000 customers lost power in Sarasota County, where Milton made landfall around 8:30 p.m. The vast majority were FPL customers.
Nearly 61% of Manatee County customers, more than 159,000 accounts, were in the dark as of 9 p.m. That includes more than 127,000 FPL consumers and more than 46,000 Peace River Electric Cooperative users.
Across the Sunshine Skyway in Pinellas County, more than 111,000 lost power. Most of those users rely on Duke Energy, without 4,500 TECO customers also awaiting electricity. Nearly 95,000 have lost power in Hillsborough County, chiefly TECO users with about 1,200 PCEC customers also impacted.
6 p.m.
Nearly 119,000 power customers in Florida have already lost electricity, even before Hurricane Milton made landfall.
The Florida Public Service Commission at 6 p.m. reported more than 1% of all Florida power customers already face outage conditions. At least one customer has lost power in 41 of Florida’s 67 counties as a result of the storm, according to the report.
Florida Power & Light (FPL) customers make up 65,800 of those in the state without electricity. Duke Energy also reports more than 21,100 without power, and nearly 7,900 Tampa Electric Company (TECO) users are already impacted. Another nearly 18,500 impacted by the storm rely on one of the state’s electric co-ops and more than 5,600 are on some city power.
Those without power include more than 23,600 in St. Lucie County on the Atlantic Coast, where tornadoes have delivered extensive infrastructure damage. That means more than 12.5% of customers in the county are in the dark. More than 20,600 of those are FPL customers, with the rest on Fort Pierce Utilities.
Nearly 13,000 Indian River County customers have been impacted, nearly all of those FPL consumers.
Closer to the expected landfall for the storm, nearly 11,300 customers in Pinellas County face an outage. More than 11,000 of those subscribe to Duke, with the rest on TECO. In neighboring Hillsborough County, more than 7,400 customers, most of TECO’s network, have lost power.
To the south of Tampa Bay, where the latest forecasts show. Likely landfall, nearly 8,500 Manatee County customers have no electricity. Most of those are FPL customers.
More than 9,700 customers are in the dark in Lee County, including 4,100 on FPL and more than 5,600 on Lee County Electric Cooperative power.
In Palm Beach County, nearly 4,600 FPL customers have lost electricity, as have more than 4,000 FPL customers in Martin County.
North of Tampa, nearly 5,000 Pasco County customers lost power, including almost 4,000 Duke customers and the rest on TECO or city power.
