Over 2 million Floridians were out of power as of 6 a.m. Eastern, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) confirmed during a Thursday morning update on Tropical Storm Ian.
The Florida Division of Emergency Management reported 2,021,206 without power as of Thursday morning — a figure which the governor later confirmed.
“As of 6 a.m. this morning, that you have 2.02 million reported power outages,” he said, adding that “outside of Southwest Florida, we may have additional outages from Central and Northeast Florida” as the storm moves through the state.
“Lee and Charlotte are basically off the grid at this point,” he said. Notably, Lee County is where then-Hurricane Ian made landfall Wednesday.
SARASOTA, FL – SEPTEMBER 28: Wind gusts blow across Sarasota Bay as Hurricane Ian churns to the south on September 28, 2022 in Sarasota, Florida. The storm made a U.S. landfall on Cayo Costa, Florida, on Wednesday. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)
“Sarasota has a quarter of a million without power. Hillsborough 222,000. Pinellas 150,000. Manatee 129,000. The Charlotte and Lee reconnects are really going to likely have to be rebuilding of that infrastructure,” he said, adding that there are “linemen … crews that are on their way down right now.”
“But that’s going to be more than just connecting a power line back to back to a pole,” he continued. “The other counties likely are not going to require the extent of the structural rebuild, but of course that’s going to be assessed as the day goes on.”
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