More than 311,000 homes and businesses in Florida, Georgia and Alabama were without power on Wednesday after Hurricane Michael hit the Florida Panhandle, according to local power companies.
Michael, now a Category 3 hurricane, made landfall early in the afternoon near Mexico Beach, about 20 miles southeast of Panama City in Florida's Panhandle region, with top sustained winds reaching 155 mph.
The storm came ashore as a Category 4 hurricane on the five-step Saffir-Simpson wind scale. Duke Energy Corp estimated Hurricane Michael could cause between 100,000 and 200,000 of its customers to lose power in Florida. The company said some outages could last several days to more than a week.
The following table lists major outages according to utility companies:
Power Company State Out Now Served
Southern-Gulf Power FL 117,500 457,100
Duke-Florida FL 32,500 1,800,000
City of Tallahassee FL 63,100 113,000
Georgia cooperatives GA 35,500 2,000,000
Southern-Georgia Power GA 35,800 2,441,300
Southern-Alabama Power AL 27,000 1,400,000
Total 311,400
© 2025 Thomson/Reuters. All rights reserved.