HURRICANE DORIAN COVERAGE: Friday Night Locker Room’s Orville Susong and Steve Wilson Check in With FP&L

if you live in the cone of uncertainty, you could experience severe weather and power outages

SPACE COAST DAILY TV HURRICANE DORIAN COVERAGE: The Friday Night Locker Room’s Orville Susong and Steve Wilson were at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville where power crews from all over the country are staging to assist Florida Power & Light Company to restore power after Hurricane Dorian passes.

BREVARD COUNTY • TITUSVILLE, FLORIDA – Florida Power & Light Company is urging customers to prepare for power outages as extremely powerful Hurricane Dorian approaches the Florida coastline.

The company continues to execute its emergency response plan, pre-positioning workers and equipment in preparation for this Category 5 hurricane off Florida’s coast, including at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville.

Power resources, including both workers and equipment, are pouring into Brevard County from all over the country to assist in restoring power once Hurricane Dorian has passed.

The Friday Night Locker Room’s Orville Susong and Steve Wilson were at Space Coast Regional Airport in Titusville where power crews from all over the country are staging in preparation of Hurricane Dorian.

“We’ve assembled the largest pre-storm restoration workforce in company history with a workforce of approximately 16,000 hardworking men and women committed to restoring power as the first bands of severe weather impact our service area,” said Eric Silagy, president and CEO of FPL.

“They will work around the clock to restore power safely and as quickly as possible.”

Silagy urged residents not to make assumptions about the current track of this storm and stressed being vigilant and being prepared and said if you live in the cone of uncertainty, you could experience severe weather and power outages.

“We ask our customers to be patient and prepare for the potential of extended power outages, including customers who experience non-storm related outages. As long as it’s safe, we’ll be out there restoring power and we won’t stop working until every customer’s electricity is back on,” said Silagy.

“I want to extend my gratitude to our partners in law enforcement, first responders and the FDOT who are helping us keep the roads clear and safe to allow additional restoration crews into the state, so we can be ready to restore power safely and as quickly as possible.

“Hurricane Dorian’s track remains unpredictable and there is a razor-thin margin of hurricane force-winds impacting Florida’s east coast; therefore, at this juncture, it is impossible to predict how many FPL customers may lose power as a result of this powerful hurricane.”

Even if Florida doesn’t take a direct impact, FPL anticipates significant effects, including powerful tropical-storm-force winds, possible tornadoes, storm surge and flooding from this slow-moving storm.

These effects will create challenges with trees toppling, debris and vegetation blowing into power lines, which may require crews to repair large parts of our energy grid.

FPL anticipates that a large portion of its service area will feel the impacts of potential tropical-storm-force winds from Dorian and may experience power outages.

Customers are urged to take the time now to prepare for potentially prolonged outages.

Additionally, given the nature of the approaching storm and expected vegetation-related impacts on FPL equipment, some customers may experience more than one outage throughout the duration of the storm.

Trees are the leading cause of outages, so FPL proactively clears tree branches, palm fronds and other vegetation from more than 15,000 miles of power lines every year.

Following severe weather, FPL crews must cut away trees and other vegetation that have fallen into power lines, or that are in the way, to find and fix damage safely and as quickly as possible.

Workers will operate bucket trucks and restore service in between bands of severe weather, as long as winds are below 35 miles per hour and conditions are safe.

“We understand the anxiety many of our customers are feeling as this dangerous storm looms off our coast, and we want to reassure them that we’re ready to respond,” said Silagy.

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