Thousands of linemen are ready to restore power in Florida as Hurricane Ian approaches the state’s west coast, Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) announced Monday.
Florida, which is under a state of emergency, now has 5,000 Florida National Guardsmen activated ahead of Hurricane Ian’s landfall.
“There may not be direct impacts in all 67 counties, but there may be indirect impacts not just from the storm, but also from people that may be evacuating to other parts of the state,” DeSantis explained.
“So we want to make sure that our communities have the maximum flexibility that they need to be able to respond to the storm in any way that they need to,” he added.
Additionally, DeSantis said they now “have more than 25,000 linemen that are stationed ready to go once the all clear is given and they are given the go ahead to go and get the power back on,” as power outages are expected.
“I think Floridians who are in the path of the storm, if you’re not an evacuation zone and you’re happy with your home, the sturdiness of your home and you’re hunkering down, just be prepared to lose power,” he warned Floridians.
“And depending on the severity of the storm, power outages can be lengthy. It may not just be one day where you’re out of power. So prepare for that, understand that that’s something that’s a possibility,” he said, assuring that officials will work to get the power back on when the all clear is given after the storm.
“The manpower is there. The urgency will be there as well. But just prepare yourself that a storm of this magnitude is going to take power out more than likely,” he added.
WATCH:
DeSantis’s update comes as Hurricane Ian approaches Cuba, and is expected to strengthen to a major hurricane as it approaches the Gulf. The National Hurricane Center (NHC) is warning of “life-threatening storm surge” for the Florida west coast, identifying Fort Myers to the Tampa Bay region of having the highest risk.
“Hurricane-force winds are possible in the hurricane watch area in west-central Florida beginning Wednesday morning with tropical storm conditions possible by late Tuesday,” the NHC’s 11 a.m. update read:
The entire state, however, is expected to feel the hurricane’s impacts due to the sheer size of the storm:
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