160K customers without power in Southeastern US as Hurricane Isaias recovery enters third day

Hurricane Isaias made landfall Friday night near Destin, Florida, as a Category 2 storm, and recovery is still underway. About 170,000 customers in Florida and Alabama remained without power Monday morning, down from a peak of roughly 950,000 outages. Florida Power & Light was hit hardest, with 435,000 customers losing power, mostly in the Panhandle's Escambia and Santa Rosa counties. The utility had hoped to restore 95% of customers by Monday but revised that down to 85% after finding more tree damage, broken poles, and leaning poles than first expected. Alabama Power had restored 90% of its roughly 390,000 affected customers by Sunday, and Duke Energy Florida said it was wrapping up restoration for its smaller group of around 10,000 customers.

For homeowners in the storm's path, the main thing to know is that recovery is uneven by location. Utilities credit grid upgrades, including smart-grid technology and underground power lines, with reducing outages and speeding repairs. FPL said its underground lines held up more than eight times better than overhead lines during the storm. If your area relies on overhead lines, you may be more likely to see extended outages during severe weather.

The storm also disrupted oil and gas production in the Gulf, with more than half of offshore output paused ahead of landfall. Analysts say this could cause a short-term bump in gas prices, though a longer supply problem isn't expected.