JUNO BEACH, Fla. -- As Tropical Storm Nicole continues its path toward Florida, Florida Power & Light Company is making final preparations to restore service safely and as quickly as possible after what is forecast to be a damaging storm.
The latest forecast track from the National Hurricane Center, issued at 10 a.m., continues to show a likely landfall as a hurricane on the east coast of Florida, with tropical storm-force winds arriving in portions of the state as soon as Wednesday.
Following Hurricane Ian’s widespread destruction just a few weeks ago, Nicole has the potential to topple storm-weakened trees throughout FPL’s service area, especially where the ground remains soaked. Nicole may also bring heavy rains, storm surge and flooding that may slow access for crews restoring power after the storm.
“November storms are unusual, and we recognize there are seasonal residents here who aren’t accustomed to dealing with tropical weather and longtime residents who may have hurricane season fatigue. We are urging everyone to take this storm seriously,” said Eric Silagy, chairman and CEO of FPL. “We have approximately 13,000 men and women supporting this effort and we are making sure we are ready to respond, regardless of Nicole’s path. We’re urging customers to finalize their preparations and make safety their top priority.”
What FPL is doing
FPL has activated its emergency response plan, which includes:
- Approximately 13,000 personnel preparing to support the restoration
- Finalizing logistics for staging sites in the areas most likely to be affected
- Pre-positioning key equipment and supplies
- Coordinating with county and state emergency operations centers on response
As Nicole’s outer bands begin to affect customers, FPL will restore power as long as it’s safe to do so. During the storm, FPL will use smart grid technology to remotely restore power to customers where possible. Immediately following the storm, once winds drop below 35 miles per hour, FPL will continue restoration and conduct damage assessments with field crews. These assessments, which include data gathered from a fleet of drones, help FPL assign the right resources to each geographical region and give customers an accurate estimate of when we will complete restoration in each region.
Additional resources
Customers can download the FPL app for on-the-go, instant and secure access to their accounts. Customers can report or get the latest information on an outage. The app is available for download in the iOS App Store and Google Play. To quickly download the FPL app, text the word “App” to MyFPL (69375). Customers also can sign up for storm updates by texting the word “Join” to MyFPL (69375).
How to stay informed
FPL communicates restoration information to customers frequently through the news media and the following resources:
- FPL website: FPL.com or FPL.com/storm
- FPL app: Download from the App Store or Google Play, or text the word “App” to MyFPL (69375)
- Twitter: twitter.com/insideFPL
- Facebook: facebook.com/FPLconnect
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Florida Power & Light Company
As America’s largest electric utility, Florida Power & Light Company serves more customers and sells more power than any other utility, providing clean, affordable, reliable electricity to approximately 5.8 million accounts, or more than 12 million people. FPL operates one of the cleanest power generation fleets in the U.S. and in 2021 won the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Award for the sixth time in the last seven years. The company received the top ranking in the southern U.S. among large electric providers, according to J.D. Power’s 2021 Electric Utility Residential Customer Satisfaction StudySM and 2021 Electric Utility Business Customer Satisfaction StudySM. The company was also recognized in 2020 as one of the most trusted U.S. electric utilities by Escalent for the seventh consecutive year. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), a clean energy company widely recognized for its efforts in sustainability, corporate responsibility, ethics and compliance, and diversity. NextEra Energy is ranked No. 1 in the electric and gas utilities industry in Fortune’s 2022 list of “World’s Most Admired Companies” and recognized on Fortune’s 2021 list of companies that “Change the World.” NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is the world’s largest generator of renewable energy from the wind and sun and a world leader in battery storage. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites: www.NextEraEnergy.com, www.FPL.com, www.NextEraEnergyResources.com.