At one time power outages due to the passage of Hurricane Helene by Southwest Florida were reported near 125,000 in an area including Manatee, Sarasota, Charlotte, Lee, Collier, Glades, Hendry and DeSoto counties. As of Tuesday morning, that number was down to almost 3,300 and shrinking.
Utility repair crews in the area served by Florida Power and Light and the Lee County Electric Cooperative had reconnected the majority of homes and businesses without power and were working to resume electrical service to 3,322 others in the affected area.
The largest number of outages were in Manatee and Sarasota counties, in areas hardest hit by the wind and surge from Helene. Manatee had nearly 2,500 outages and Sarasota almost 600 remaining.
Current outage numbers by county and provider (updated 8 a.m. Oct. 1):
Lee County:
13 (FPL)
7 (LCEC)
Total: 20
Collier County:
41 (FPL)
35 (LCEC)
Total: 76
Charlotte County:
141 (FPL)
Sarasota County:
586 (FPL)
Hendry County:
0 (FPL)
0 (LCEC)
Total: 0
Glades County:
0 (FPL)
DeSoto County:
1 (FPL)
Manatee County:
2,498 (FPL)
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