At one point Thursday power outages soared to more than 123,000 homes and businesses disconnected due to Hurricane Helene's powerful winds in counties from Manatee to Collier, Lee to Hendry.
By Saturday at 8 p.m., that number had been dwindled to slightly under 12,000 after utility crews crisscrossed Southwest Florida.
The area with the largest number of power losses was Manatee with 11,850. That county, which was hit by strong Helene winds Thursday at one point had more than 40,000 without power.
Damage was reported Thursday morning to bleachers and other out buildings at the Lee County Posse Arena off Palm Creek Drive in North Fort Myers. Damaging winds generated by Helene were reported in that area around 7 a.m.
At least one home on Palm Creek Drive lost a roof and at least one home on Deal Road reported significant roof damage. Lee County Electric Cooperative trucks were on scene making repairs.
There were also reports of tornadoes touching down in the interior of Southwest Florida, but no damage or injuries were reported.
Current outage numbers by county and provider (updated 8 p.m. Sep. 27):
Lee County:
100 (FPL)
367 (LCEC)
Total: 467
Collier County:
50 (FPL)
1 (LCEC)
Total: 51
Charlotte County:
160 (FPL)
Sarasota County:
650 (FPL)
Hendry County:
0 (FPL)
0 (LCEC)
Total: 120
Glades County:
0 (FPL)
DeSoto County:
7 (FPL)
Manatee County:
11,850 (FPL)
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