Florida power outage updates amid Hurricane Isaias: When will power be back in Escambia, Walton counties? | Hindustan Times
More than 300,000 customers were without electricity across Florida as Hurricane Isaias battered the Panhandle.
Hundreds of thousands of Florida residents remained without electricity on Friday after Hurricane Isaias brought destructive winds, heavy rain and storm surge to the Panhandle. The hurricane knocked down the power lines as the rain poured down.According to PowerOutage.us, more than 301,000 customers across Florida were without power as of the latest update. Escambia County recorded the highest number of outages, followed by Walton, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Bay counties.Florida Power & Light (FPL) and the Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative (CHELCO) said crews were responding to widespread outages, according to Fox News. However, restoration timelines would depend on when hurricane conditions became safe enough for damage assessments.Hurricane Isaias made landfall Friday evening near the Florida-Alabama border as a powerful Category 3 storm, bringing hurricane-force winds and life-threatening storm surge to parts of the Panhandle.Also read: Florida Hurricane Isaias: Fort Walton, 30A, Destin, Navarre, Miramar and Pensacola beaches battered; videos emergeWhich Florida counties have the biggest outages?PowerOutage.us reported that Escambia County had the largest number of customers without electricity, with more than 103,000 outages.The latest statewide figures showed:Escambia County: 103,320 customers without powerWalton County: 53,986Santa Rosa County: 42,420Okaloosa County: 41,905Bay County: 18,064Jackson County: 11,499Washington County: 10,321Holmes County: 7,354Separately, Florida Power & Light reported more than 17,000 outages in Okaloosa County, 11,150 in Bay County, 3,650 in Walton County, 2,480 in Washington County, 550 in Holmes County and 90 in Jackson County during Friday evening.CHELCO, which serves much of the Emerald Coast, reported even more extensive impacts within its service territory.The cooperative said 49,100 customers in Walton County, representing 92% of its customers there, had lost electricity. Only five connections had been restored at the time of its update.Also read: Tropical Storm Rachel tracker: Latest path, California landfall forecast and cities at riskWhen will power be restored?Neither FPL nor CHELCO has announced a county-by-county restoration schedule.Both utilities said restoration work would accelerate once weather conditions improved and crews could safely inspect damaged substations, transmission lines and distribution equipment.CHELCO has deployed crews across northwest Florida and continues to update customers through its online outage map.Residents have been urged to avoid downed power lines, report outages through official utility channels and prepare for extended interruptions if roads remain blocked or infrastructure suffers major storm damage.Customers can monitor restoration progress through FPL’s Power Tracker, CHELCO’s outage map and PowerOutage.us.
