2,600 Duke Energy Crews On Standby For TS Elsa Impacts

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Duke Energy has a total of 2,600 crews on standby as of Tuesday for the expected power outages that will potentially be caused by Tropical Storm Elsa after she hits parts of Florida, including Tampa Bay.

"Right now, we are doing our last minute preparations for Tropical Storm Elsa, and what that means is we have our crews on standby and ready to respond if and when the power goes out," Ana Gibbs, spokesperson for Duke Energy Florida, told reporters outside Duke Energy St. Petersburg Operations Center Tuesday morning. "That also means we have hundreds of crews coming from both the Midwest and the Carolinas reporting here to Florida to help our customers get their lights back on if they're impacted by the storm."

A total of 650 teams from out of state will help Florida crews restore electricity to customers impacted by the tropical storm. Duke serves 1.9 million customers in 35 counties that stretches from the Highlands area to the Florida/Georgia border. Gov. Ron DeSantis issued a state of emergency for 15 counties, including Pinellas and Hillsborough, Monday.

The St. Pete location, 2501 25th Street N., has about 23 trucks on standby ready to serve downtown and other areas in the city, according to Gibbs. Crews throughout the state will be on standby until Wednesday.

"We have meteorologists on staff so they've been watching this storm since it's formed, and they have a tough job because not only do they have to determine the weather impacts, but how that's going to impact our infrastructure and what that means to our customers," Gibbs said. "And they also have to predict another level—how many customers that could potentially impact. Ultimately, that translates where are we going to put our crews so that they are close enough to respond but safe enough so that they're not going to be impacted."

Gibbs said that she hopes St. Petersburg residents have already prepared for the storm, and if they haven't, now is the time. She also recommends that customers who have medical needs that rely on equipment powered by electricity to find an alternate location.

D'Ann Lawrence White contributed to this report.

Patch will keep you updated on Tropical Storm Elsa.

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