JUNO BEACH, Fla., Sept. 14 /PRNewswire/ -- Florida Power & Light Company
reports approximately 220,000 customers on Florida's west coast from Bradenton
to Naples and across central Florida are out of service early today following
the overnight onslaught of high winds and heavy rains from Tropical Storm
Gabrielle. In some west coast areas, restoration already has begun.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20010621/FPLLOGO)
"Approximately 7,000 Florida Power & Light crews, contractors and support
personnel are ready to begin restoration efforts as soon as the storm passes.
Until then, we urge our customers to take whatever precautions necessary to
keep themselves and their families as safe as possible," said Armando Olivera,
senior vice president of power systems. "We ask customers to be extremely
careful after the storm and stay away from any dangling wires or downed poles
and not to walk into standing water. If you see any sparking wires or downed
lines, please call 1-800-4OUTAGE (1-800-468-8243)."
Service restoration already is underway in southwest Florida counties
where the storm first impacted FPL's service area. FPL expects additional
outages to occur throughout the day today across the middle of the state and
along the east coast as the rapidly moving storm continues along its present
path toward the Atlantic.
At 10 a.m., outage totals by county reported along the west coast were:
Lee - 55,000 Collier - 15,000 Charlotte - 30,000
Sarasota - 45,000 Manatee - 70,000 DeSoto - 5,000
Those numbers may increase as bands of weather associated with the storm
continue to move through the area. FPL urges all customers to:
* Stay away from downed lines, flooding and debris.
* Don't walk in standing water and don't venture out in the dark because
you might not see a power line that could still be energized and dangerous.
* If you plan to use a portable generator, run it outside and connect
appliances to it -- do not wire it directly to your circuit breaker or fuse
box.
SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company
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Related links:
http://www.fpl.com
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PRN Photo Desk, 888-776-6555 or 212-782-2840
Company News On-Call:
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CONTACT:
Corporate Communications, Florida Power &
Light Company, +1-305-552-3888
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