ORLANDO, Fla. — After Hurricane Ian blew through Central Florida, customers are waiting with various levels of patience for their services to be restored.
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Already Friday, more internet and electricity customers saw devices and lights come back online. More gas stations opened, letting relieved emergency workers more easily fill their tanks.
Here’s what we know about the most critical services:
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Power
Wide swaths of Winter Park and other communities were left without power as of Friday morning, though more and more reported being reconnected to the grid throughout the day.
Duke Energy is now telling customers everyone will be back online by Sunday, unless a house needs more extensive repairs or an inspection. They said that would apply to approximately 10% of affected customers.
Florida Power and Light said more than 50% of their customers have been reconnected.
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Internet
Two of the major providers in Central Florida said their crews were working diligently on the lines. Spectrum did not provide the number of reconnections made Friday, saying it was an ever-changing number. However, they opened their WiFi hotspots throughout the region for public use until October 2.
CenturyLink said they had fewer than 1,000 lines left to reconnect as of Friday afternoon.
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Cell service
The three major cell providers said most of their lingering issues were due to a lack of power at certain facilities.
Verizon said major gaps in coverage had been filled as of Friday afternoon, while AT&T said other providers’ customers were freely able to roam on their network while the region was in recovery mode. T-Mobile said their responders were working with shelters to provide services while emergency teams fixed any problems within their control.
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Gas
As of Friday afternoon, gas shortages were reported at 16% of Central Florida stations, according to Patrick De Haan with GasBuddy. That number had been stable since Thursday afternoon.
RaceTrac stations reported varying shortages at its sites, though nothing consistent or widespread. Most stations had at least one level of fuel, with the vast majority having all three.
AAA reported trucks were on the roads making deliveries, and Port Tampa Bay said their facilities were open again and shipments of fuel through the port were able to resume.
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