Hurricane Milton left an indelible and destructive Mark on the state of Florida when it ravaged the peninsula one week ago today. Coming ashore as a strong Category 3 cyclone, storm surge rose to as much as 10 ft in Siesta Key, with shorelines to the north experiencing 5 feet. (Image credit: screenshot of Duke Energy Outage Map)

Hurricane Helene saw similar levels and with such immense amounts of water rushing in from the Gulf of Mexico, many homes on the beach and Intracoastal experienced severe flooding. Wind speeds ranging from tropical storm force up to Category 3, downed many trees, collapsed fences, and uprooted sidewalks, leaving many in the Sunshine State without power. 

Hurricane Helene was responsible for approximately 1.2 million power outages in Florida alone, with hundreds of thousands of more houses in Georgia and North Carolina cut off from electrical service. Hurricane Milton doubled that number in Florida, causing power outages to 2+ million residences. 

Duke Energy, which serves 556,150 homes in Pinellas County, quickly dispatched linemen After both storms, with power being restored to a vast majority of accounts shortly following Hurricane Helene. However, the aftermath of Hurricane Milton proved much more challenging, and as a result, restoration efforts were slower going, with nearly half of all customers in Pinellas County having service on the day after the storm. By the weekend, that number had dropped substantially, with power being restored to thousands of homes. Still, as of Sunday, 216,648 homes had no electricity.

But, over 42,000 residences remained without service as of yesterday morning. Today, 17,299 homes are anxiously waiting for power, now 8 days after Hurricane Milton hit. According to Duke Energy’s Outage Map, those accounts should be restored by 9 pm this evening, though not all homes will have service. Duke Energy explains some properties require specialized work to restore power.