Restoring Electricity Now Priority After Hermine
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TALLAHASSEE (CBSMiami/NSF) -- More than 158,000 homes in North and Central Florida were without electricity a day after Hurricane Hermine swept through parts of the state.
Nearly half the homes without power were in Leon County.
In coastal Wakulla County, where the storm made landfall early Friday, 72 percent of the homes remained without power Saturday morning.
Meanwhile, the governor's office reported that the Florida National Guard was mobilizing teams in Orlando and Tallahassee to provide "logistical support."
Gov. Rick Scott, in a prepared statement, said he expected "every city and county official to aggressively fix" the power outages.
"Private utility companies have offered services to support these efforts, and I hope city and county officials will quickly take advantage of this to help residents," Scott said.
Leon County, which includes Tallahassee, reportedly had 78,809 homes without power early Saturday, which was 57 percent of its residential property.
Wakulla County, with 11,771 homes without power, was the only other county with more than 10,000 homes lacking electricity.
Hamilton County had 4,735 homes without power early Saturday, accounting for 71 percent of its residential properties, according to a release from the governor's office. Taylor County, which experienced high storm surge early Friday, had 67 percent of its homes without power Saturday.
Dixie County was at 36 percent, Gadsden, 25 percent, Jefferson, 54 percent, Lafayette, 34 percent, Levy, 21 percent, Madison, 50 percent, Suwannee, 41 percent, and Columbia County was at 17 percent without power.
Franklin County was down to 2 percent of its homes still without power, Citrus County was at 5 percent, and Alachua County was at 6 percent.
County buildings remained closing in 23 counties: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Clay, Columbia, Dixie, Duval, Gadsden, Gilchrist, Hamilton, Jefferson, Lafayette, Leon, Levy, Liberty, Madison, Pasco, Putnam, St. Johns, Suwannee, Taylor, Union and Wakulla.
Eight state parks remained closed.
Chief Financial Officer Jeff Atwater announced that the state's insurance consumer helpline -- Â 1 (877) 693-5236Â -- will operate Sunday from 8 a.m. Eastern time to noon.
(The News Service of Florida's Jim Turner contributed to this report.)
