Getting gasoline tankers into Florida and restoring electricity to state residents remain the top priorities of Gov. Rick Scott.
“Florida is an incredibly resilient state and now it is time that we come together and rebuild,” said Scott. “After visiting shelters this week and talking to people who evacuated due to Hurricane Irma, the number one thing I heard from families is that they want their power back on.”
As of 9:30 a.m. Wednesday, nearly 3.8 million homes and businesses, or about 36 percent of the state’s electric users, were without power. But crews are making significant progress. The number of customers without electricity is almost a million less than last evening.
Miami-Dade County has the most number of customers impacted by power outages with 452,000 without electricity, followed by Broward County with nearly 312,000 and Lee County with nearly 290,000 outages.
Palm Beach and Pinellas follow with 280,000 and 271,000 customers without power, respectively.
“We must make sure Floridians have the fuel they need to get home and back to work, and the electricity they need to live their lives. We are making progress on both fronts, but I will not rest until we are 100 percent recovered,” Scott added. “While power has been restored to nearly two million homes and businesses so far, there is much more work that needs to be done.”
Scott says he has directed every state resource to assist with restoring power and getting fuel to the state.
“We are working with local officials, public and private utility companies and the federal government to fill gas tanks and turn on the lights.”
Crews from as far away as Canada are in Florida assisting with the restoration of power.
For updates on the number of customers without power, click here.
As for gasoline supplies, all three of Florida’s major fuel ports–Port Tampa, Port Everglades and Port Canaveral–are open and operational. Port of Panama City is also open and operational.
Fuel trucks are actively filling and leaving the terminals to refuel gas stations.
Each Port is prioritizing fuel shipments and the Florida Highway Patrol is providing escorts to fuel resupply trucks to gas stations.