Hurricane Debby made landfall over Steinhatchee this weekend, causing extensive power outages and flooding across the Big Bend region, affecting thousands of residents.
Hurricane Debby made landfall near Steinhatchee over the weekend, causing extensive power outages and flooding across the Big Bend region. The Category 1 storm, with sustained winds of 80 mph, left thousands of residents without electricity as of Monday morning.
In Levy County, nearly half of the tracked customers—12,255 out of 25,797—were without power, according to Poweroutage.us. Central Florida Electric Cooperative reported outages for 7,545 of its 19,156 customers, while Duke Energy saw 3,944 outages among its 4,167 customers. Gilchrist County was also hit hard, with 65 percent of its 10,283 customers losing power. Central Florida Electric Cooperative had 5,860 outages among 8,450 customers, and Duke Energy reported 832 outages from 1,824 customers.
Dixie County is reported to have a 77 percent outage rate, affecting 8,185 of its 10,583 customers. Central Florida Electric Cooperative reported 6,541 outages from 8,106 customers, Duke Energy had 961 outages from 1,784 customers, and Tri-County Electric Coop saw 683 outages from its 693 customers.
Taylor County, however, where Steinhatchee is located, reported a discrepancy with more outages than customers. Duke Energy had 6,758 outages among 6,061 customers, and Tri-County Electric Coop reported 7,661 outages from 7,930 customers.
Lafayette County saw 80 percent of its 4,475 customers lose power, as Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative reported 3,574 outages from 3,579 customers and Tri-County Electric Coop had 6 outages from 46 customers. In Suwannee County, 92 percent of the 25,013 tracked customers were affected. Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative had 18,467 outages from 18,954 customers, and Florida Power & Light Company reported 3,008 outages from 5,190 customers.
Hamilton County reported outages for nearly 79 percent of its 7,069 customers. Duke Energy had 2,302 outages from 2,896 customers, while Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative saw 3,278 outages from 4,173 customers.
Columbia County experienced a lower outage rate, with 21 percent of its 36,022 tracked customers affected. Florida Power & Light Company reported 5,363 outages from 14,767 customers, and Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative had 1,637 outages from 2,129 customers.
Madison County faced a significant impact, with 97 percent of its 11,506 tracked customers losing power. Duke Energy reported 4,136 outages from 3,907 customers, and Tri-County Electric Coop saw 7,079 outages from 7,599 customers.
Jefferson County had 98 percent of its 8,777 customers without power. Duke Energy reported 5,019 outages from 5,018 customers, and Tri-County Electric Coop had 3,629 outages from 3,750 customers.
Gov. Ron DeSantis noted the storm’s impact on Monday morning, as well as the extensive recovery efforts needed. He noted that flooding had been widespread and would persist in the coming days. State Division of Emergency Management Director Kevin Guthrie stated that crews aim to restore power to 80-85 percent of customers within 24 to 48 hours.
“So far we have about 143,000 Floridians without power,” said DeSantis during an update on the storm aftermath. “We do have 17,000 linesmen ready to assist and restore.”
Emergency crews from other states have also been mobilized to expedite the restoration process.
The storm’s impact extended beyond the immediate landfall area, with power outages and flooding reported from the Sarasota-Bradenton area up to North Florida. The National Hurricane Center warned of severe flooding as Hurricane Debby moved northeast.
President Joe Biden approved a federal emergency declaration to assist with disaster relief efforts, covering 75 percent of certain storm-related costs for affected counties.