Hurricane Ian: 90,000 Lose Power In Manatee County

Updated: 6:30 p.m. Wednesday

MANATEE COUNTY, FL —As Hurricane Ian moves inland after making landfall earlier Wednesday, more than 90,000 Florida Power & Light customers have lost power in Sarasota County.

FPL has 198,710 customers in the county, according to the company's website. As of 6 p.m., 90,550 were without power.

On its website, FPL said, “We’re responding to Ian and are unable to provide a restoration estimate at this time. Please know we will continue to restore outages, including in-between the storm’s weather bands as long as it is safe to do so.”

• Stay up-to-date by viewing all Hurricane Ian coverage on Patch here.

Ian made landfall as a powerful Category 4 storm near Cayo Costa, about 20 miles south of Fort Myers, at 3:05 p.m. Wednesday.

Catastrophic storm surge of 12 to 16 feet above ground level, as well as destructive waves, are expected from Englewood to Bonita Beach, including Charlotte Harbor, the agency added.

Much of the state will see heavy rainfall through Thursday.

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Days ahead of landfall, utility companies stationed 25,000 workers in the region, ready to go to get the power back on.

FPL, the state’s largest utility company, tweeted that it activated its restoration workforce of 16,000 and pre-positioned key pieces of equipment at locations across the state.

Customers can report outages to FPL and check their status here.