There’s nothing like a ticked-off Mother Nature.
Hurricane Ian and all its Category 4 power left Florida on Thursday afternoon, leaving over two million across the state without power, and many others trapped within their flooded homes.
According to Eric Silagy, Chairman, President, and Chief Executive Officer of Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), many parts of Florida’s power grid are damaged “beyond repair”.
FPL is a subsidiary of NextEra Energy, Inc., the largest vertically integrated rate-regulated electric utility in the US.
Continued Silagy: “Repairing can be done often in hours or days [but] rebuilding can take many days or weeks. So we are preparing for that rebuilding effort as we speak.”
He added: “This is a catastrophic storm. There will be catastrophic damage across the entire system.”
As with every disaster, getting aid to people is the chief priority, including the provision of electric power.
However, it’s not just snapped power lines the utility has to worry about, it’s the complete replacement of utility poles that have been damaged or even moved by the storm’s winds and rain.
But bringing power back to Florida isn’t as simple as flicking a switch and saying, ‘let there be light.’ There is a shortage of equipment, including the transformers needed to restore power.
According to Joy Ditto, the Chief Executive Officer with the American Public Power Association, there’s been a backorder on some necessary equipment for as long as three years.
On top of that, there is also a lumber shortage where wood utility poles are not as widely available as needed.
Add to that the sheer magnitude of the work needed to be done to get the state back up on its feet.
While physical components such as transformers and wood utility poles are an issue, utility companies from around the country are amassed and ready to lend a hand and a utility service truck to at the least get some power back in the areas not as badly damaged by the storm.
However, some companies are reluctant to part with items fearing that an upcoming winter onslaught would deprive its customers of aid, refusing to rob Peter to pay Paul.
Public and private utility companies around the country may also swap or donate necessary items to Florida. Concerning the wood utility pole conundrum, there is the option to use metal and cement utility poles rather than waiting for a tree to grow.
However, FPL’s Silagy did say that the company has a stockpile of materials and equipment already acquired months previous, but that work on restoring power can not be done until it is safe for its workers to do so.
Even though Hurricane Ian has passed and is making its way alongside the east coast at a reduced rate of intensity, flooding is preventing service utility truck operators from doing what they do best.
FPL and other power companies from across the US have over 25,000 linemen and 27,000 power restoration personnel ready to begin the electric power grid back up and perform rebuilding of the infrastructure where necessary.
The image at the top of this article was taken from Twitter user @RyanAFournier: https://twitter.com/RyanAFournier/status/1575297136874356743
Although a timeframe for bringing Florida completely back to normal has not yet been determined, Silagy said that Hurricane Ian was more widespread in its damage across Florida than Hurricane Charley in 2004 when it took many weeks before power was restored.