More than 70,000 homes are without electricity after Hurricane Hermine’s invasion late last night. According to earlier weather reports, Hurricane Hermine doused Tallahassee with four to five inches of rain, with wind gusts of 65 mph.
Road blockage along with power outage has been steadily reported throughout the day. Some of these area include Old Bainbridge Road as well as Old St Augustine Road.
Reported by Talquin Electric Cooperative, counties reported without power is as follows: Gasden (7,788); Liberty (451); Wakulla (9,585) and Leon with the most outages reported (20,089). According to The City Electric Utility’s general manager Rob McGarrah, it could be days before power is fully restored throughout the city. He said they are working as fast as possible to get the power back up.
Earlier this morning, officials were working to remove a tree that fell in the road on Wahnish Way near FAMU’s Student Service Center.
Fourth year FAMU social work student Aliyah Wheeler described the feeling from the damage done to her grandmother’s home.
“I woke up with such a heavy heart. I thought that it would be the end for my grandmother’s house,” Wheeler said. “We had created so many memories there and the thought of losing the house killed us. Luckily, it could be fixed.”
Main streets with major retail stores such as Walmart along with several fast food restaurants that remain without power include, Capital Circle Northeast/Northwest, Tennessee Street and Apalachee Parkway.
Although very few have been able to sustain their electricity, many more are still without. Residents in apartment complexes such as, Villa Del Lago on Pensacola street as well as University Green on Tennessee st are currently still without power.
Osheiauana Neal, first-year nursing student at Tallahassee Community College, said although she didn’t experience the power outage, the storm still caused a huge inconvenience.
“I didn't experience power outage but there are trees down in the road and it's very hard to get through! A tree fell on someone’s car,” Neal said.
Tallahassee City Commissioner Scott Maddox posted an update on Facebook saying Tallahassee’s electric system, sewer system and roadways were all damaged. Eighty percent of the electric system was damaged and more than 70,000 homes and businesses were without power.
Officials are still working diligently throughout the area to restore power back to the city.