Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Utilities Storm Response topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
FPL outlines storm response plans to Tamarac commission, urges resident preparedness
Summary
Florida Power & Light presented the company’s hurricane‑season preparedness and restoration practices to the Tamarac commission, including pre‑staging crews, remote grid‑monitoring technology, and use of drones to speed damage assessments.
TAMARAC, Fla. — A Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) representative told the Tamarac City Commission on July 9 that the utility is operating in hurricane‑season readiness mode and described steps the company takes to restore outages after major storms.
Christine Shaw, speaking for FPL, said the company serves more than 6 million customer accounts across 43 Florida counties and stressed the company’s investments in grid hardening and technology to reduce outage durations. “Since 2006 we’ve made a significant investment in our infrastructure and our grid,” Shaw said. She noted that the company staged about 20,000 restoration personnel statewide during last year’s storms and described multi‑day timelines for restoration in recent storms — three days after one storm and about five days after another under more challenging conditions.
Nut graf: Shaw said FPL prioritizes restoring power to critical facilities first — hospitals, 911 centers, fire and police — and then to major commercial corridors and residences. She described tools that shorten field response times, including drones to assess infrastructure damage and remote systems that can reroute power feeds to reduce the number of customers affected.
Details from the presentation - FPL uses predictive staging: crews and vendor teams are placed near forecasted impact zones several days before expected landfall to avoid post‑storm travel impediments such as debris and flooding. - Technology investments allow remote detection of outages and targeted switching to minimize customer interruptions before crews are deployed. - Drones are used for rapid assessment of transmission, substations and distribution lines so work crews can be staged in the right locations immediately after it is safe to access impacted areas. - Municipalities have access to an FPL storm portal (activated only during major outages) that provides restoration progress to city and county emergency management officials. FPL also maintains a customer storm center webpage, app notifications and social‑media updates.
Shaw emphasized resident preparedness: know evacuation and flood zones, sign up for city and county alerts, and follow official evacuation and re‑entry directions. She offered to provide flyers and links to city staff for distribution to residents; Commissioner Patterson requested materials to share with constituents.
No formal action was required. Vice Mayor Daniel and commissioners commented on local transformer outages and requested follow‑up on dates for a neighborhood meeting about local equipment; Shaw said FPL would follow up and that a city‑level storm contact (EOC liaisons) coordinates closely with FPL during events.
The FPL presentation is part of the commission’s regular meeting agenda and was delivered before several consent and budget items.
