Helene made landfall in the Big Bend region Thursday night as a Category 4 hurricane.
As of 2:29 p.m. on Friday, 841,670 Floridians are without power.
Greater Tampa Bay region county-by-county outages
Hillsborough - 38,162
Pinellas - 190,044
Pasco - 37,157
Sarasota - 62,052
Polk - 1,912
Hernando - 3,597
Manatee - 28,679
Power Outage USA posts a map showing county-by-county power outage numbers at poweroutage.us/area/state/florida.
Power outage data is published by the Florida Public Service Commission every three hours online at psc.state.fl.us/ or on on Twitter at @floridapsc.
Power outages can be expected during #Helene, take action now to prepare for anticipated outages in your area:
— FL Division of Emergency Management (@FLSERT) September 26, 2024
🎒 Gather nonperishable food & batteries
🔌Turn off & unplug all unnecessary electrical equipment
📢 Have ways to receive emergency alerts pic.twitter.com/S4jhUsMTit
Florida Power and Light Co. provides service, in part, to these counties: Sarasota, Manatee, DeSoto, Hardee and Highlands. Residents can also monitor real-time power outages here.
Duke Energy is a primary power provider for the greater Tampa Bay region and Central Florida, including Hillsborough, Pinellas, Pasco, Polk, Highlands, Hardee and Hernando counties.
Polk County is also serviced by Lakeland Electric, from Polk City to Highland city, and the Peace River Electric Cooperative, Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative and Tampa Electric Co.(TECO).
To help residents and emergency personnel stay connected ahead of Helene, Comcast has opened 52,296 public Xfinity WiFi hotspots in areas it serves across Florida in Hurricane Helene’s potential path. The free and public hotspots are open for anyone to use, including non-Xfinity customers.
For a map of public Xfinity WiFi hotspots, which are located both indoors and outdoors in places such as shopping districts, parks, and businesses, visit Finder.wifi.xfinity.com.
To find the nearest hotspot location in your city, search the WiFi Hotspot Map.
Monitoring and reporting outages
If you have internet access, outages can be monitored on these major power providers' websites:
If your power is provided by a cooperative or municipal government in the greater Tampa Bay region, you can monitor outage updates on these websites:
- Peace River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
- Lee County Electric Cooperative
- Sumter Electric Cooperative, Inc.
- Lakeland Electric
- Glades Electric Cooperative, Inc.
- Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Inc.
Power providers ask that residents report any outages they are experiencing.