11 hurricanes in FL was enough for me.
H. Andrew (Cat 5) survivor.
Do not assume power will be back on so quick. I didn't have power for 4 months after Andrew. Andrew 24. Our area got power back right before Christmas.
Power companies focus on restoring to critical areas first, hospitals, first responders, key gov't.
Then areas with the most population and least amount of electrical infrastructure damage.
Over the course of MANY weeks….
End of week one my area. Crews w/ chain saws opened up small path thru the trees for the power crews to get thru.
Then the assessment teams came thru
Next they came thru and hazmat double bagged transformers (older ones have PCBs).
Next came the crews to remove downed/broken wooden poles, and where needed the wires.
Next came crew to install new poles.
Then they installed the new transformers on the poles.
Then they hoisted up the wires.
In late December, they came to each house to inform they were going to turn the power on, depending on the amount of damage to the house. After the meter was re-installed, each circuit breaker was turn on one at a time.
I know that there were times when problems with power plants far north of Turkey Point nuclear power plant (Homestead) caused brownouts in Miami, and that was years before Andrew and the population explosion in the whole state of FL.
Another thing…. there are only so many crews that can come in from other states to restore the grid. Where are those crews right now? HELENE.
FL Panhandle. FL west coast line. Georgia. NC. TN. With NC/TN with catastrophic levels of damage to the grid in videos.
They are already stretched thin.
Next - look at LAKE OKEECHOBEE. The drinking water source for S. Florida.
Dike around it is 30' high, last updated in 1960s. Current water level is already at the max 15.5……….. and they have the canal flood gates wide open thru then entire southern portion of the state. If there is a breach in the dike - all those homes and neighborhoods south built on the drained FL swamp….
Pray there isn't a disaster in the dike. If so, have to wonder about sabotage.
Just east and south of Lake Okeechobee. That is all really low swampy land. West Palm Beach, big $ homes. The horse show grounds, polo grounds. It was swampy right on the edges during the drier years.
They've built west far in the natural FL Everglades natural swamp area all the way down to Homestead.
Pray.