As the number of homes without power in South Florida shrank to 10,000 Thursday, Florida Power & Light announced it had released 1,000 contract workers to go to the devastated areas of the Gulf Coast. About 500 linemen and 500 tree-trimmers were released to work in the areas hit by Katrina's second attack. Reporter Ryan Warner saw them heading that way as he drove eastbound on Alligator Alley this morning.

“There’s been a steady stream in the opposite direction of tree trimming trucks after electric power trucks, one after another after another ostensibly heading from South Florida up to the disaster areas and it’s quite reminiscent of the steady stream of vehicles that came after Hurricane Charley to help folks in Charlotte County and the other devastated areas last season.”
In addition, BellSouth announced that less than one percent of its customers affected by Hurricane Katrina in Broward and Miami-Dade counties remain without telephone service.About 1.45 million homes went dark when Katrina struck South Florida last week.