Florida's Power Outages Affecting Over 1 Million Customers Could Last More Than a Week Following Hurricane Ian

Florida's power outages in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian could last more than a week after the deadly, destructive storm wreaked havoc in the Sunshine State in recent days.

This is according to local reports, which said that residents are still facing major flooding and will have to wait longer until power lines are fully restored.

Residential and business establishments are both affected by the outage indefinitely.

Ian made landfall in southwestern Florida by mid-week, bringing colossal hurricane-force winds, powerful storm surges, and causing widespread flooding due to heavy rain.

The storm also led to large-scale property and infrastructural damage, including downed power lines, which caused the Florida blackout.

Dozens of counties in Florida were affected, as well as portions of North Carolina and South Carolina.

Ian arrived in Florida as a Category 4 hurricane, bringing a combination of coastal flooding and riverine flooding.

This combination caused the flash flooding in multiple areas, where floodwaters trapped some residents and pulverized some coastal homes.

Based on recent reports, flooding is believed to the be major cause of deaths in Florida, where dozens of people have died, and gusty winds also played a role.

Ian has downgraded into a tropical storm following its landfall in South Carolina.

However, the catastrophic storm also left several fatalities in North Carolina.

It also caused similar power outages affecting hundreds of thousands of customers in the Carolinas and Virginia.

Furthermore, emerging anecdotal accounts reportedly suggest that Ian could be the most powerful hurricane that struck Florida.

Florida Power Outages

(Photo : Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)

It could take up to a week from Sunday, October 2, before power is fully restored in storm-damaged counties, according to Eric Silagy, the president and CEO of Florida Power & Light Company, as cited by CNN.

Silagy added that some customers may still experience outages in "weeks or months" since some buildings that incurred structural damage will require safety inspections first.

According to the utility monitoring site poweroutage.us, over 1 million customers in Florida still have no electricity as of Saturday evening, October 1.

In addition, more than 99,000 customers had no power in North Carolina.

There is no specific date provided yet as to when all power outages will come back to normalcy in Florida and other affected states.

Also Read: Hurricane Ian to Unleash Heavy Rains in Florida As It Quickly Intensifies

Hurricane Ian US Death Toll

The initial death toll from Hurricane Ian rose to at least 32 people on Saturday as rescue crews in Florida continue their search and rescue missions to search for survivors, according to USA Today.

However, latest updates on the Florida death toll as of late evening on Saturday shows at least 72 people have died.

Meanwhile, four people were reported dead due to the hurricane in North Carolina, according to the states' local officials, as cited by ABC News.

Expected to be the most expensive storm in Florida, Ian also prompted authorities in the Carolinas to start assessing the damage from one of the country's strongest hurricanes.

Related Article: Hurricane Ian Intensifies As it Approaches Florida and Cuba