More Than 24,000 Lost Power In Sarasota County

SARASOTA COUNTY, FL — More than 24,000 households in Sarasota County lost power when Tropical Storm Eta hit west central Florida Wednesday night and early Thursday.

According to Florida Power & Light Company's Power Tracker, 24,060 of their customers lost power at some point during the storm. As of 11 a.m. on Thursday, the company had restored power to 23,290 households and only 770 remain without power.

According to PowerOutage.US, though, as of 11 a.m., 470 FPL customers were without power. The website tracked 282,565 customers in Sarasota County. Of these, 282,525 are FPL customers, while 40 are with Peace River Electric Coop. No Peace River customers were reported to be without power.

FPL tweeted Wednesday evening, “Approximately 9,000 personnel are responding to #Eta on the west coast, including many who were just restoring service in South Florida. The storm will affect multiple regions as it moves across our state over the next day.”

Sunday night, when Eta hit South Florida, more than 300,000 FPL customers lost power in the storm. By 10 a.m. on Monday, though, the electric company had restored power for more than 270,000 households, said Bryan Garner, director of communications, at a news conference. That’s more than 90 percent of the customers who were impacted at the time.

On Sunday, more than 12,000 out-of-state line workers joined FPL crews to restore power to its customers, he said. Earlier in the week, they worked during lulls in the storm and overnight, utilizing the company’s smart grid technology, to quickly restore power.

Those experiencing power outages don't need to alert FPL, Garner added. The smart grid technology allows workers to easily identify areas with no power. Downed power lines and other emergency situations can be reported by calling FPL at 800-4-OUTAGE (468-8243).

Find updated coverage about Tropical Storm Eta and it's aftermath in Florida from Patch here: Tropical Storm Eta: 1 FL Death, Flooding, All Warnings Canceled