Lake City’s population swelled temporarily by a few thousand people Monday.
It will grow again today as well.
In preparation for Hurricane Ian, Florida Power & Light turned the Florida Gateway Fairgrounds into one of its two processing sites in the state. The other is located at Daytona International Speedway when storms start moving toward the state.
The advisory issued by the National Hurricane Center on Monday evening had Ian projected to hit mainland Thursday near Tampa. Columbia County is still within the cone of uncertainty with the center projected to go just east of the area around 2 p.m. Friday with tropical storm force winds of 39-73 miles per hour.
Heavy rainfall is forecast to arrive in North Florida on Wednesday and Thursday.
David Diaz, FPL’s processing site director in Lake City, said Monday evening that around two thousand different crews had arrived at the fairgrounds to assist in the utility’s emergency response.
“From my understanding, (today) will be a pretty heavy day,” Diaz said, noting the site opened early Monday morning and would continue processing crews until around 11 p.m. Monday. “By Wednesday we should be done dispersing resources.”
Diaz added the fairgrounds could transition later in the week from a processing site to a staging area where crews will work from.
Marshall Hastings, an FPL spokesperson, said earlier Monday that the company’s workforce for the response was approximately 13,000.
The crews descending upon Lake City had arrived from 27 states, including Florida.
“It looks like a fair is going on,” Hastings said. “It is quite crowded out here.”
Those crews that set up shop for processing — which includes safety training videos, filling out paperwork and having everything checked before getting assigned to different areas in the state — which can be completed in as little as 30 minutes for a 30-person crew, include both utility workers and vegetation crews. Fuel trucks were also at the fairgrounds Monday providing a fill-up to utility trucks before they continued to their next destination.
Those vegetation crews already have their directions on what to do prior to arriving at their new locations, Hastings said. He noted that FPL’s efforts were currently concentrated on southwest Florida in the Fort Myers, Naples and Sarasota area.
“Let’s proactively do some work on some of these lines to give them some clearing,” he said. “Some of the other utility crews that are here will go to that location, so that they are ready to respond as soon as the storm passes.”
Those crews that arrived in Lake City on Monday, most of whom are processed and move out all in the same day, came from as far as Massachusetts, New Hampshire and New York in the northeast and Wisconsin, Illinois and Indiana in the upper midwest.
“We’re not pulling anyone from Alaska or anything like that, but the eastern half of the country,” he added.
Crews that arrived later in the day Monday would remain overnight in Lake City. FPL had buses ready at the fairgrounds to take the workers to hotels for the night.
Locally, both Clay Electric Cooperative and Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative activated their emergency response plans in preparation for outages that the storm may bring. That includes securing outside crews, similar to those assisting FPL, to help restore service, if necessary.
“These steps are to ensure we remain ahead of the curve because this storm’s projected path will affect multiple utilities, causing outside resources to be limited,” Clay General Manager/CEO Ricky Davis said in a release. “With potential statewide damages, and knowing other states may be in Hurricane Ian’s path, we want to be proactive in securing the necessary resources to restore power to our members as efficiently and safely as possible.”
SVEC CEO Michael McWaters added in a release: “All of our employees are ready to fulfill their roles in meeting the needs of our consumer-members,. We are monitoring storm forecasts from multiple weather services and arranging for contractor help with restoring power. Our statewide association is also standing by to help us acquire assistance from other electric cooperatives if needed.”