As of 3 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 1, Duke Energy reported about 9,600 homes and businesses still didn’t have their lights back on in Pinellas County.
That number does not include "the estimated 15,000 customers who appear – based on available information – unable to receive power because of the extensive damage to their homes and businesses."
County Administrator Barry Burton said it’s going to take a while to bring the power back. Most of those outages are on the barrier islands.
“We have to rebuild the grid. And Duke Energy is working on that. I mean, the boxes were fried, and so it has to be rebuilt, not restored. And so that's going to take time, a couple of weeks, but it's going to occur in phases,” he said.
Burton said the power will be restored by grid.
Duke Energy posted a message on its website that said, “The barrier islands of Pinellas County experienced ‘significant impacts from historic storm surge’ and portions of its electrical infrastructure will need to be rebuilt.”
It thanked those still without power for their patience.
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On Tuesday, the decision was made to lift the “locals only” restriction to the county’s barrier islands.
That’s not a decision Pinellas County Commissioner Kathleen Peters was ready to see. She lives on a barrier island. She's worried about "disaster sightseers" clogging roads, while residents are trying to bring in people to help make their homes livable again. Some still don't have running water or air conditioning, especially in the south.
“They're going to be very anxious at nighttime for looters, so a lot of people may want to stay at their property, but it won't be safe, because the mold is growing so quickly. So, they’re all going to have a lot more anxiety, given that people can come on the island and they don't know if their property is going to be safe, because there's no real way to secure your property,” she said.
Emergency managers said there will be a "heavy police presence" on the barrier islands in Pinellas.
Still, commissioner René Flowers asked passersby not to remove belongings that have been left outside of people’s homes. She said there was no way to know whether those things were still wanted. So, she asked people to leave that stuff alone.
The county administrator said, “It’s not clean out your house day" and reminded people that they should only put out furniture and other items if they are damaged or if the need arises. Don't dump stuff that is no longer wanted on the curb because they know which evacuation zones in the county were inundated.
Debris removal was also on the minds of county commissioners. The county administrator said he expected that to be taken care of within a week, not weeks.
As for sand removal, Barry Burton wouldn’t provide a lot of detail, but he said “We’ve put out information on how to move sand. If it’s clean sand, you can put it back out on the beach.”
The emergency managers advised those who live in Pinellas to contact your county commissioner to make your needs known. You can get more information here.
Homeowners and renters can apply for FEMA assistance by calling 800-621-3362 or at disasterassistance.gov.
Pinellas Emergency Management Director Cathie Perkins said people can apply for Disaster Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program through the Florida Department of Children and Families.
Perkins said they are working with DCF to sent up a family resource center.
