Panama City Beach Chamber of Commerce issued the following announcement on August 17.
As of 7 a.m., Gulf Power has restored service to essentially all customers in Northwest Florida who were affected by Tropical Storm Fred, which was a strong storm with 65 mph winds at landfall. Approximately 20,000 customers, mostly in Bay, Washington, Holmes and Jackson counties, lost power as the storm’s outer bands moved through the eastern portion of the service area, after making landfall near Apalachicola.
Gulf Power’s restoration team of more than 1,700 personnel, including support from Florida Power & Light Company, worked in between bands of severe weather and throughout the night to restore service safely and as quickly as possible.
“We know that getting the power back on is critical for communities, and I want to thank our dedicated men and women who safely worked around the clock to get our customers’ lights back on – even as Fred’s outer bands moved through our service area,” said Mike Spoor, vice president of Gulf Power. “We greatly appreciate the support from our Florida Power & Light Company family, and we urge our customers to continue to stay prepared as we enter the most active months of hurricane season.”
Customers who are still without power should first check their breakers and then contact Gulf Power. They can report their outage through the Gulf Power App, on GulfPower.com or by calling 1-800-GU-POWER. Please avoid standing water and debris.
Returning the system to its normal state Our first priority after a storm is restoring power to customers. With the lights back on, Gulf Power will now complete any follow-up work needed, such as picking up damaged equipment that may have been left behind. Please do not put any yard debris on top of electrical equipment, because that can be dangerous.
Gulf Power will also begin work to return the electric system to its normal state. This includes work that customers can see, such as resetting poles that may be leaning. It also includes work customers can’t see, such as using drones to evaluate the system, similar to taking an x-ray of the system to identify any potential issues.
By the numbers
– Approximately 20,000 customers were restored after Fred made landfall near Apalachicola.
– The peak number of outages was 15,000.
– The average customer was restored in less than two hours.
– The total restoration workforce was more than 1,700.
– Four parking sites were set up throughout our service area to speed restoration.
Additional resources
• Be prepared
• Stay safe
• Storm ready
• How we prepare for storm season
• How we restore power
How to stay informed
The easiest way to stay informed and report an outage after a severe weather event is the Gulf Power mobile app. Customers can download the Gulf Power app for on-the-go, instant and secure access to their accounts. Additionally, customers can report or get the latest information on an outage. The app is available to download for free on the iOS App Store or Google Play Store.
Gulf Power communicates restoration information to customers frequently through the news media and the following resources:
• Gulf Power website: GulfPower.com
• Twitter: Twitter.com/GulfPower • Facebook: GulfPowerCompany
• Gulf Power outage map: Map.GulfPower.com
• Gulf Power app: Download free from the iOS App Store or Google Play Store
Original source can be found here.
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