Two Million Without Electricity As Florida Power Official Says System Must Be “Rebuilt, Not Restored” [VIDEO]

The Associated Press reports:

More than 2 million Floridians remained without power Friday morning as they emerged from the flooding and wreckage left by Hurricane Ian and began to plot a recovery from the storm’s devastation.

In Lee County, where Fort Myers and Cape Coral took direct hits from the storm, more than 80% of customers were without power Friday morning. Inland, Hardee County in Central Florida awoke Friday nearly entirely in the dark, according to outages tracked by PowerOutage.us.

The Florida Power & Light Company — which had nearly 1 million customers without electricity on Friday morning — said the recovery could take some time in the areas most devastated by the storm. “Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic winds will mean parts of our system will need to be rebuilt — not restored,” the company said.

Read the full article.

Millions of #Florida residents are without power in the wake of Hurricane #Ian as evident from nighttime imagery from #NOAA20. Some clouds blur remaining lights in the 9/29 image (l) but it’s a significant difference compared to 4 nights ago (r). https://t.co/yCNKCKyryx #FLwx pic.twitter.com/H4PH08EAf9

— UW-Madison CIMSS (@UWCIMSS) September 29, 2022

Nearly 2.2 million without power in Florida after Hurricane Ian leaves widespread damage https://t.co/pfBDHG0v2V

— KCRG-TV9 (@KCRG) September 30, 2022

Florida Power & Light, which had nearly 1 million customers without power Friday, said parts of its grid needed to be “rebuilt — not restored.” https://t.co/ccGx7RuDNx

— masslivenews (@masslivenews) September 30, 2022