Florida ranks the highest in nation for electrical blackouts, says report

It’s in part thanks to our severe weather.

click to enlarge Florida ranks the highest in nation for electrical blackouts, says report
Photo via Abobe Images

The numbers are in: Florida’s the best at having the worst blackouts. 

That’s according to Eaton Corporation, a power company that tallied up the worst and most widespread blackouts nationwide. Their annual “blackout” report is out, and has Florida beating California as the state where blackouts affected the greatest number of people. Over a 10-year-period, some 25.3 million customers lost power in the Sunshine State, versus 22.2 million Californians and 18.3 million New Yorkers, the study found. 

It’s in part thanks to our severe weather.

The report also outlined the 10 most significant outages of 2018, which included Hurricane Michael. The Category 4 hurricane left hundreds of thousands of Floridians without power, with a total of about 2.5 million across the entire Southeast region in the dark, the report stated. 

Among other significant outages, Tropical Storm Gordon made the list, alongside “Super Storm Sandy” and east coast Nor’easters, to name a few. 

It’s worth noting Florida, unsurprisingly, was highlighted for having the weirdest reason for a power outage, that is, zombies. The fake alert, which came out of Lake Worth in May 2018, was mentioned in the report. If you all recall, the viral text said “extreme zombie activity" left around 7,880 customers without power. 

Also on the list, a 10-minute outage for 7,600 customers in Key West after an iguana got shocked by 69,000 volts and, somehow, lived. 

Follow @cl_tampabay on Twitter to get the most up-to-date news + views. Subscribe to our newsletter, too.

WE LOVE OUR READERS!

Since 1988, CL Tampa Bay has served as the free, independent voice of Tampa Bay, and we want to keep it that way.

Becoming a CL Tampa Bay Supporter for as little as $5 a month allows us to continue offering readers access to our coverage of local news, food, nightlife, events, and culture with no paywalls.

Join today because you love us, too.

Scroll to read more Florida News articles

Join Creative Loafing Tampa Bay Newsletters

Subscribe now to get the latest news delivered right to your inbox.