Update:
1,425,517 power outages across the state, as of 6 p.m. Eastern.
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Over one million Floridians are without power shortly after Hurricane Ian’s landfall in southwest Florida, and officials only expect that number to grow.
Earlier this afternoon, the Florida Division of Emergency Management reported 756,450 power outages across the state. By the time Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) delivered his 5:30 p.m. press conference, that figure grew to 1.1 million.
“We have over 1.1 million reported power outages. Now there are crews that are still working outside of southwest Florida, but just understand that number is going to grow,” the governor said, predicting “more power outages as the storm moves through the center part of our state and before it exits into the Atlantic coast.”
“There are 100 portable cell phone towers ready to be deployed into southwest Florida once it is safe to enter in, should that be needed. We want to make sure people are staying out of the way of emergency crews and out of floodwaters and away from all downed power lines,” he continued, adding that crews will move in as soon as it is safe.
“Florida Department of Transportation is going to go in and clear those roadways. These are all on standby. They’re ready to go. They understand the importance of a really, really quick response,” he said.
Florida has 42,000 linemen across the state ready to respond to these outages.
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