Hurricane Elsa brought heavy rain, tropical storm force wind gusts, and thousands of power outages to Tampa Bay. On Wednesday afternoon, over 4,500 households were without service due to the storm.
As of 12 p.m. TECO reported that 3,677 households were without power in Hillsborough County. A major outage has occurred in the Carrollwood area, where over 752 residents were without power due to “weather related damage to equipment.” TECO estimates that power will be restored to that area by 3:20 p.m.
TECO estimated most outages across Hillsborough will be restored between 1 p.m.-6:30 p.m.
In Pinellas, Duke energy reported 696 outages in Pinellas, a majority of which were in the Clearwater and Dunedin areas, where 239 customers were without power due to fallen trees or limbs damaging equipment. Duke estimated most power outages in Pinellas being restored by 2 p.m.
165 outages were reported in Hernando County in Maskarytown near Spring Hill, where trees or limbs damaged equipment.
To report outages in Pinellas, Hernando and Pasco, Duke Energy customers can text “OUT” to 57801, call 800-228-8485 or report it online.
To report outages in Hillsborough County, TECO customers can text “OUT” to 27079, call 877-588-1010 or report it online. Customers can register their phone numbers for a faster experience at tecoaccount.com. TECO’s smart meters also will likely know if a customer’s power is out.
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This article appears in Jul 1-7, 2021.
