As Hurricane Milton made landfall in Tampa, Florida, powerful winds caused widespread outages, leaving 70% of Tampa Electric's utility customers in the dark. Tampa Electric President and CEO, Archie Collins, expressed concern over the unprecedented number of customers without power, emphasizing the challenges faced by the local power grid.
Collins highlighted the difficulty in assessing the full extent of the damage due to safety concerns for crews navigating the affected areas. The eyewall of the hurricane passed directly over Hillsborough County, bringing some of the strongest winds ever experienced in the region. Collins described the situation as a 'game changer,' with anticipated damage surpassing anything witnessed in recent memory.
