Over 50,000 people were still without power in Tallahassee following Hurricane Hermine’s landfall late Thursday evening, and Tallahassee Mayor Andrew Gillum said it could be quite some time -- possibly a week -- before nearly all of the city regains power.
Tallahassee, a city with nearly 120,000 power customers, had 90,000 customers without power at its highest point after Hermine hit the state’s capital city.
"Because of the substantial nature of [the] damage [from the storm] we want to inform the public that we are estimating that about 90 percent restoration may take up to a week here in the city of Tallahassee," Mayor Andrew Gillum said.
All of the city’s utility workers were out to restore power to the area, working 16 hour shifts to bring electricity to residents. Other cities from around the state sent workers to Tallahassee to help bring back electricity to residents. Lakeland power workers were working side by side with Tallahassee utility workers Saturday.
Gov. Rick Scott spent most of his time this week addressing the storm and had been meeting with city officials and surveying the damage in Tallahassee at the end of the week.
On Saturday, Scott spent most of the day meeting with power line crews and with Leon County and nearby county officials to discuss Hurricane Hermine response and recovery.
“It is a problem that so many people do not have power and I fully expect every city and county official to aggressively fix this,” Scott said. “Private utility companies have offered services to support these efforts and I hope city and county officials will quickly take advantage of this to help residents.”
Scott also toured parts of the Tallahassee area to survey damage and meet with locals affected by the storm, which has caused some of the worst storm damage the Big Bend area has seen since Hurricane Kate, which hit the area in 1985.
Surrounding counties were also without power as of Saturday morning. Eight state parks were closed in the area and state buildings remained closed in 23 counties in the aftermath of Hermine.
The storm began as a tropical disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico and eventually became a Tropical Storm, then a Hurricane before making direct landfall on the Big Bend area of Florida. Hermine rocked the area for much of late Thursday evening through Friday morning, with most of the damage coming from strong winds ripping through the area.
Fallen trees caused damage to power lines, homes and roadways in the Tallahassee area. On the Florida Gulf Coast, nearby Cedar Key was underwater.
Residents and local businesses with power extended helping hands to residents without power, offering them places to charge their phones, get some air conditioning and recuperate from the storm.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Reach reporter Allison Nielsen by email at allison@sunshinestatenews.com or follow her on Twitter: @AllisonNielsen.
