Hurricane Ian Could Knock out Power for Days As Storm Threatens Power Grids

Hurricane Ian will soon make landfall along Florida's west coast, and outer bands of the storm have already caused damage to some coastal communities, including downed power lines.

If forecasts are correct––which anticipate Hurricane Ian slowing its speed and potentially stalling completely upon landfall––that could mean days without power for some Florida residents.

Duke Energy spokesperson Ana Gibbs told Newsweek that some line crews were still in the field responding to outages, but that would stop as soon as the storm advanced further into the state. Then, line crews must wait until the storm subsides before assessing damage and responding to power outages.

Gibbs couldn't give an estimated timeline of when restoration would resume after the storm hits in earnest but more details will be available tomorrow. Thousands of crew members are on hand to respond as soon as conditions allow for it. Winds must drop below 35 miles per hour before workers can go into the field.

Gibbs said Duke Energy will likely be the second-most impacted energy provided from the storm, following Florida Power and Light Company (FPL).

In a press release, FPL said it was preparing to repair and rebuild parts of its system after the storm's damage.

"Hurricane Ian's catastrophic winds, life-threatening storm surge, significant flooding and numerous tornados are expected to cause extensive damage to the electrical infrastructure," the statement said.

FPL will utilize smart grid technology to restore power where possible when crews are unable to deploy due to deteriorating weather conditions. FPL warned customers they may experience more than one outage as the storm moves through the area.

"Due to the destructive nature of this storm, dangerous conditions could last for several days and cause outage counts to fluctuate," the statement said.

A map showing power outages on PowerOutage.us confirms that FPL customers are experiencing by far the most outages with more than 400,000 reported outages, making up the bulk of more than 644,000 Floridians without power. As of early this afternoon, Duke Energy had nearly 60,000 reported outages.

Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Michael in 2018 both impacted Duke Energy's territory in Florida. Hurricane Irma was a larger but weaker storm than Hurricane Michael. Its effects were felt by every one of Duke's service areas and millions of customers were without power. Although Hurricane Michael hit a much more compact area in Florida, the damage was so severe Duke Energy had to rebuild its system.

"The entire grid in those cities had to be rebuilt because the storm surge actually wiped out the system," Gibbs said. "Instead of fixing poles and wires, it was literally wiped away from storm surge, so we had to rebuild from the ground up."

Gibbs stressed that each hurricane is different. Hurricane Ian's impact is unknown, as the center of the storm will hit just south of Duke's territories. Gibbs said Duke Energy's largest concern was potential flooding.

"Water and electricity don't mix," she said.

Duke Energy is encouraging customers to switch their power off at the breaker ahead of the storm, specifically in flood-prone areas, to prevent the risk of fire.

Newsweek reached out to Florida Power & Light Company for comment.