MIAMI (WSVN) - Hurricane Matthew’s heavy rains and powerful wind gusts have caused thousands of residents statewide to lose power, including Miami-Dade and Broward.
According to FPL, all customers in Miami-Dade and Broward counties, and a majority of customers in Palm Beach County, will have their power restored by the end of the day, Friday.
At 4 p.m., Friday, more than 1 million people were without power in Florida after Hurricane Matthew scraped state’s eastern coast, according to The Associated Press.
Power Outages as of 11 a.m., Saturday:
- Miami-Dade County: 0
- Broward County: 10
- Palm Beach County: 9,510
While Miami-Dade and Broward dodged the brunt of Matthew, pockets of Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties still felt the storm’s impact.
Rough surf hit the shores of Broward County, but that didn’t seem to scare off the residents. “We got prepared and now we’re looking at it,” said Crystal Fisher, who was out on the beach with her family during the storm. “She wanted to see the waves in the sand, and now we’re gonna go home and be safe.”
Heavy wind gusts brought down power lines in West Palm Beach. A live cable was seen smoking and even catching on fire briefly before FPL crews cut the power.
Just south, in Delray Beach, it was a close call for one home owner when a tree came crashing down near his house. “I heard a small noise, a crackle in the bedroom, I heard something against the window,” said Jeff Stohsahl. “I didn’t realize it was the whole tree. I thought maybe a big part of it just broke off.”
Stohsahl was just happy the tree didn’t take his house down with it, but he said he knows clean up won’t be easy. “A lot of money, a lot of time,” he said.
In Miami Shores, another tree toppled over, Thursday afternoon, bringing down power lines with it. “There was aloud bang and the power went out in the house,” said Chip Southerland. “We came out and we saw the wires in the front yard sparking and jumping in a puddle, which was present at the time, ’cause a squalor just moved through.”
On Miami Beach, wind and crashing waves could be seen, but as the rain began to let up in the afternoon, residents realized they had dodged a what could have been a catastrophic storm. Some businesses even started to reopen almost immediately after the weather conditions cleared.
“I knew it was going to be just rain and heavy wind, that’s all,” said one woman.
To report a power outage at your home, business or neighborhood, call FPL’s hotline at 1800-4OUTAGE, or call 311. You can also report a power outage online by clicking here.
Radio Partners where you can get the latest on Matthew:
- 99 JAMZ
- Hot 105
- Hits 97.3
- Easy 93.1
To see a visual map of where all the power outages are happening in real time, click here.
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