Utilities make progress on power restoration as Hurricane Isaias recovery continues

Some 120,000 power customers were still waiting for power restoration in Florida as of Monday afternoon, three days after Hurricane Isaias hit the Florida Panhandle, as momentum gathered behind the state’s disaster recovery.

“We now have essentially full restoration in Bay County, Okaloosa is over 96% restored, and Washington County’s over 91% were restored,” Gov. Ron DeSantis said during a news conference outside a Walmart in Pensacola..

“Walton County is now up to 80% restored, remaining customers are expected to have power tonight into early tomorrow, and the Chelco (the Choctawhatchee Electric Cooperative), who’s the provider there, they’ve confirmed that the schools in Walton, all of them, are hooked up and they’re back,” he said as residents in cars passed seeking assistance.

Walmart was providing mobile showers, hot meals, Wi-Fi, device-charging stations, and laundry service — “You bring the laundry in in the morning, they turn it around in, like, an hour and a half. Now it’s a little bit of a backup. So, it takes a little longer, but you’re able to get clothes cleaned,” DeSantis said.

Isaias made landfall near Destin, Florida, around 50 miles east of Pensacola, about 8:30 p.m. Central time Friday with maximum sustained winds of 105 mph. But much of the damage was in Santa Rosa County, where wind gusts ripped the roofs off homes.

DeSantis gave a picture of recovery efforts. The state is opening emergency points of distribution, or PODs, across the region, providing emergency supplies including bottled water, shelf-stable food, and other essential supplies to residents who suffered damage.

Feeding people

The Florida National Guard remains on duty, the governor said.

“Fortunately, they weren’t needed for a lot of rescue missions, ’cause that demand wasn’t there, but they’ve already cleared 1,700 miles of roadway, distributed more than 4,000 cases of water, 1,700 meals, 2,600 bags of ice, and 2,200 tarps, and (are) conducting more than 20 flight hours, supporting search and rescue operations and damage assessments.

“Fortunately, most of that is damage assessments, because there weren’t people that needed to be rescued like we’ve had to the extent in previous storms, and they’ve also assisted relocating special-needs residents.”

The Florida Department of Transportation was heavily involved, the governor said. “Right now, 93% of traffic signals are operational in storm impacted areas, including 320 that are operating on temporary general generator power. They’re doing more and more as each hour goes by.”

DesSantis noted the pattern of damage.

“In terms of gusts, they got more gusts in Santa Rosa, in Milton, than Destin did that was where the eye of the storm went in,” he said. “These things are always screwy, somehow. And this was one of those quirks. So, we sent our people there to help clear some of these local rural roads. They’re not state roads, so there’s not things we usually have jurisdiction over, but we want to be helpful.”

Farmers, ranchers, and growers in areas that suffered Isaias damage can apply for loans of up to $500,000 for repairs to infrastructure through the state’s Agriculture and Aquaculture Producers Natural Disaster Recovery Loan Program, according to a news release.

They’re eligible even if they’ve already drawn loans for earlier storms, although they can’t receive more than one loan per storm, more than two loans per year, or more than five loans in any three years, Commissioner of Agriculture Wilton Simpson said.

The loans are available to operations in Baker, Bay, Calhoun, Citrus, Columbia, Dixie, Escambia, Franklin, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Gulf, Hamilton, Hillsborough, Holmes, Jackson, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Okaloosa, Pasco, Pinellas, Santa Rosa, Suwannee, Taylor, Walton, Wakulla, and Washington counties.

Loans are available to help additional businesses replace lost inventory and make payroll, too. The state is trying to learn the scale of the harm to businesses through a survey, available at FloridaDisaster.biz.