1.3 Million Businesses, Homes Without PowerPhoto: Miami-Dade County firefighters amid the ruins of an overpass that was
under construction but collapsed under the force of Hurricane Katrina's winds.
August 26, 2005
By KRISTI E. SWARTZ, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
Palm Beach Post
Hurricane Katrina knocked out power to more than 1 million homes and businesses in three counties Thursday as the surprise storm lumbered into South Florida.
Officials at Florida Power & Light Co. warned more was to come, and that outages could last for five to seven days — or even longer.
Katrina, a minimal hurricane with winds of 80 mph that made landfall about 6:30 p.m. on the Broward-Miami-Dade county line, packed the most punch in Miami-Dade County, where 525,000 homes and businesses had lost power as of 9 p.m., FPL spokesman Tom Veenstra said.
Palm Beach County, which had been expecting a much closer approach from Katrina, nevertheless saw 76,000 homes and businesses, most of them in the south, powerless as the effects of the storm began to be felt.
In Broward, 477,000 homes and businesses lost electricity as of 9 p.m., Veenstra said, making a total of 1,078,000. Newer numbers were expected early this morning.
Geisha Williams, FPL's vice president for distribution, said FPL probably will start telling people to expect power restoration on Saturday. But she asked for patience.
"Katrina is headed toward a highly populated area that contains extensive electrical infrastructure, and it's going to take time for us to assess and restore this infrastructure," she said.
FPL has a crew of about 11,700 people prepared to restore power, about 4,100 of whom have either arrived or are coming in from out of state, Williams said.
"We wanted crews here before the storm, and I believe this strategy will pay dividends for our customers," she said.
Crews will begin work on reconstituting the failed portions of the power grid after the storm has passed and winds fall below 30 mph, officials said.
Outages began to be felt throughout central and southern Palm Beach County before the center of the storm hit land. In the early afternoon, about 760 houses in the West Palm Beach neighborhood of Prospect Park lost power when a main line went down, FPL said.
And a blown transformer took out power to parts of the West Palm Beach's El Cid neighborhood as well as along Flagler Drive north of Southern Boulevard.
"We're not seeing much, but it's blustery out there," Williams said early Thursday afternoon.
Lake Worth's municipal power authorities said electricity went out in city neighborhoods in the north and northeastern part of the city, and around North Grade Elementary School. Power was restored by late afternoon, officials said.
FPL officials said the biggest problem this time around for power delivery in Palm Beach County will be the rainfall.
"The water has already started," FPL spokeswoman Karen Vissepo said. "It's going to be the element that is going to affect every system."
The heavy rains will more than likely cause flooding, which could damage underground power lines and make it harder to repair them. About 37 percent of FPL's power lines across the state are underground.
Rain-soaked ground will also make it easier for even sturdy trees to fall into power lines as winds continue.
"We all have to be prepared for a hit," Vissepo said.
FPL was roundly criticized last year for its public relations performance during Hurricanes Frances and Jeanne. This storm season, the utility pledges it will be more mindful of that part of the restoration process.
"We're going to be communicating with the customers more often," Vissepo said. "That is something we didn't do that well last year, and we want to communicate in a timely fashion and more often."
Within 24 hours after the winds die down across FPL's system, the utility will let customers know the last possible day their power will be restored. Within 48 hours after that, each county will have a targeted restoration date.
Within 48 hours after that, FPL wants to have more localized information on when everybody will have lights and air conditioning again.
As the storm moves through Florida, FPL will know when major power lines are damaged, so it's not always necessary to call and report a power outage, said Marlene Santos, FPL's vice president of customer service and marketing.
Those who want to notify the utility of an outage should have an account number ready, she said.
"We won't begin to have restoration times until after the storm passes and a damage assessment has been made," Santos said. "We'll update the media and our automated system."
However, if a line is down and sparking, customers should call 911 or FPL immediately, she said.
After Katrina has moved on, FPL will begin surveying the damage. Crews will use 10 "staging sites" — nine on the east coast and one on the west — as areas to pick up lines, poles and other equipment as well as work assignments. FPL will send crews to restore power to hospitals, police and fire stations first, as well as communications and transportation systems.
One longtime critic of FPL said he likes what he's seeing so far from the power company.
"They're ready," said state Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton. "I'm not going to say that we're not going to have power outages, they aren't going to prevent the power outages, but they can restore them more quickly."
Slosberg particularly praised FPL for bringing in more workers before the storm and beefing up their communication efforts.
"I feel a lot more confident," he said.
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