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Over 3 million Floridian’s could be without power statewide by Monday


As Irma steams toward the Tampa Bay area there is a very good chance that there will be massive power outages. Large loss of power has already begun throughout the state as the early effects of Irma pounds the East Coast of Florida.

The power is likely to be interrupted by the high winds and rain that is about to enter the Central Florida area. Customers from St. Petersburg to Daytona will be without power for up to three to four days.

Rob Gould, a spokesman for Florida Power and Light, said in a Sunday morning news briefing that nearly 2 million of the utility’s customers have lost power, but electrical power has been restored to about 320,000 of those customers thus far.

But, Gould added, “it’s going to be a long, long road.” He said the company has a workforce of 17,000 people in utility crews drawn from about 30 states. He warned against complacency as Hurricane Irma moved through the state, saying “every bit of Florida is going to feel its wrath.”

Gould said the slow movement of the hurricane would prolong power outages.

“The storm is slowing down, and that’s not good news for us,” he said. “That means it will loiter longer over our territory.”

He said that it would not just be a question of repair, but of a broader reconstruction of the grid infrastructure. He said progress would be “measured in weeks, not days.”

He added, “Our nuclear plants, which are the most structurally sound in the world, are safe.”

Gould’s briefing was interrupted by a brief power outage. He apologized after the power came back one, saying “we are not immune to Irma’s wrath.

FPL serves about half the state; its figures do not include outages from other major companies such as Duke Energy Florida and Tampa Electric.

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James Williams: Jim Williams is the Washington Bureau Chief, Digital Director as well as the Director of Special Projects for Genesis Communications. He is starting his third year as part of the team. This is Williams 40th year in the media business, and in that time he has served in a number of capacities. He is a seven time Emmy Award winning television producer, director, writer and executive. He has developed four regional sports networks, directed over 2,000 live sporting events including basketball, football, baseball hockey, soccer and even polo to name a few sports. Major events include three Olympic Games, two World Cups, two World Series, six NBA Playoffs, four Stanley Cup Playoffs, four NCAA Men’s National Basketball Championship Tournaments (March Madness), two Super Bowl and over a dozen college bowl games. On the entertainment side Williams was involved s and directed over 500 concerts for Showtime, Pay Per View and MTV Networks.
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