PRECO Hurricane Ian Restoration Update: Day 1
Posted: September 29, 2022 at 8:44 pm
PrintThursday, September 29, 2022
Wauchula, Fla. – Hurricane Ian left almost 90 percent, or approximately 51,000, Peace River Electric Cooperative consumers without power. As of 8:00 p.m., power has been restored to approximately 30,000 homes and businesses. At this time, a significant amount of our service area is inaccessible due to road washouts, missing bridges and historic flooding.
Over 100 lineworkers from Arkansas and Oklahoma are working alongside PRECO’s crews. Another 300 workers are arriving tomorrow to assist in restoration efforts from electric co-ops based in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi and Texas.
By Saturday, more than 500 workers and contractors will unite to repair the damage caused by this historic storm.
“This massive effort is necessary to restore power in as short a time as possible,” says PRECO CEO Randy Shaw. “These crews will continue working until service is restored to all who can accept power.”
During the storm, our outage map server was taken offline for its protection. Therefore, map files are still being updated and the outage map may not reflect accurate totals.
“We are hoping to make tremendous progress over the next few days. However, power restoration is a very fluid and complicated process, so we cannot advise our members when we expect their service to be restored.”
PRECO phone lines will open at 8:00 a.m. on Friday. Offices will remain closed while we focus our efforts on power restoration.
For your safety, avoid all downed power lines. PRECO thanks everyone for their patience and understanding in this crisis.
# # # #