Hundreds of thousands of Bay area residents are spending another day without power after historic Hurricane Irma slammed the Sunshine State.
TECO has restored power to many of its customers, but about 191,000 remained in the dark Wednesday.
Duke Energy has nearly a half-million customers without power, with the largest number 311,529 in Pinellas County at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
- Florida residents: Florida Emergency Information 1-800-342-3557 floridadisaster.org/info
- Volunteer Opportunities: 1-800-FL-HELP-1 volunteerflorida.org
- TRACK THE TROPICS: Storm Season 2017
- CLOSINGS: Latest school, college closings | Travel closures
- POWER OUTAGES: Check power outage info
- Duke Energy Irma response
- Tampa Electric Irma response
- Flights resumed Tuesday at Tampa Intl. Airport with a build-up to a full schedule in the following days. Check with your airline for specific flight info.
The governor's office said Tuesday afternoon that 12 people have died as a result of the storm. Six of those deaths were vehicle-related, four were during storm preparations, and one person was killed in an accident involving a power line.
One person died of a heart attack while trying to pull-start a generator, the governor's office said, adding that one person was killed in Pinellas, Pasco, Marion, Duval, Libery and Broward counties. Two people were killed in Hillsborough, Hardee and Orange counties. There were at least 35 Irma-related deaths in the Caribbean.
The White House said President Donald Trump will be coming to Florida on Thursday to talk with officials on cleanup efforts and visit with residents impacted by the storm. Trump has also approved a major disaster declaration, which authorizes federal funding to flow directly to Floridians impacted by the hurricane. The action also reimburses local communities and the state government to aid in response and recovery.
Gov. Scott: There are 30,000 people from out of state helping get the power back on.
— Bay News 9 (@BN9) September 12, 2017
The storm has affected the entire state. Jacksonville, for example, is experiencing its worst flooding since 1846, Scott said. Federal officials estimated one-quarter of all homes in the Keys were destroyed.
Duke Energy officials said Tuesday as many as 9,000 crew members are out in the fields working on downed lines and snapped power poles. Crew members were brought in from out of state and from as far away as Canada, said Duke spokeswoman Anna Gibbs.
"We have 500 staff on duty working today in Pinellas and Pasco counties," Gibbs said.
The truck going through gives an idea how deep the water is at Elfers. It's over four feet above flood stage right now @BN9 pic.twitter.com/k9ZwglBZKb
— Leah Masuda BN9 (@LeahMasuda) September 12, 2017
TECO has crews fanned out across the region as well as close to 300,000 of its customers remain without power.
Customers without power as of 9 a.m.:
DUKE ENERGY
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PINELLAS - 311,529
PASCO – 56,833
CITRUS - 26,342
HERNANDO - 5,935
HILLSBOROUGH - 23
POLK - 51,850
TAMPA ELECTRIC
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INCLUDES HILLSBOROUGH/ POLK - 191,387
Also
FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT (5 p.m. Tuesday)
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MANATEE- 72,260
SARASOTA- 114,670
PEACE RIVER (5 p.m. Tuesday)
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MANATEE- 4,477
POLK- 4,873
HILLSBOROUGH- 365
WITHLACOOCHEE ELECTRIC (5 p.m. Tuesday)
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CITRUS, HERNANDO, PASCO, POLK AND SUMTER - 111,000