Tens of thousands of Gainesville and Alachua County residents on Friday morning were without power following high winds from Hurricane Helene.
Helene made landfall just after 11 p.m. Thursday near Perry — about 100 miles from Gainesville — packing winds up to 140 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center.
Downed trees blocked major roadways, including eastbound Newberry Road west of Interstate 75. Damaged and tangled power lines could be seen throughout much of the county.
Hurricane Helene live updates: 1 million without power in Florida, sewers disabled in St. Pete
Power outages as of 7 p.m. Friday.
- Gainesville Regional Utilities - 21,748
- Clay Electric - 15,843
- Duke Energy - 4,456
- CFEC - 825
- FPL - 270
Possum Creek Park, Tom Petty Park and Depot Park are all open and clear of safety hazards, according to a Facebook post from the city's Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs department.
The playground at Albert Ray Massey Park (Westside) is closed due to fallen tree limbs. All nature parks are closed until further notice.
Power outages as of 4:45 p.m. Friday
- Gainesville Regional Utilities - 32,643
- Clay Electric - 16,648
- Duke Energy - 4,542
- CFEC - 935
- FPL - 270
The Leveda Brown Environmental Park and the five Rural Collection Centers will be open from 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday. Residents who typically receive waste collection services at their homes on Thursdays will have their waste collected this Saturday. Regular collection schedules and operating hours will resume next week.
Alachua County's two general-population pet-friendly shelters and its special-needs shelter are being combined into one location effective immediately.
All those in need of shelter should go to the Martin Luther King Jr. Multipurpose Center at 1028 NE 14th St., Gainesville.
- County Road 231, from Northwest 177th Avenue to Northwest 156 Avenue
- Northwest 32nd Avenue, from CR 241 to Northwest 170th Street
- Southwest 62nd Avenue, from State Road 121 to Southwest 43rd Terrace
- CR 236, from Northwest SR 121 to Northwest 91st Street.
- Fort Clarke Boulevard, from Newberry Road to Northwest 23rd Avenue
- 6100 block of Millhopper Road
Power outages as of noon Friday.
- Gainesville Regional Utilities - 43,111
- Clay Electric - 21,852
- Duke Energy - 4,986
- CFEC - 935
- FPL - 580
Alachua County Public Works Director Ramon Gavarrete on Friday morning told The Sun that "people should stay home."
"We're still opening up roadways. We have quite a few roadways that are blocked because of power lines still. Quite frankly, it's really not safe for folks to be out and about. We are hoping to have all the roads — depending on the power line companies — all the roads at least open — not cleared — hopefully before dark," Gavarrete said. "The army of power line trucks should be arriving soon."
Many traffic signals in the county remain out. Drivers are reminded to treat intersections with non-functioning traffic signals as a four-stop.
The following statement was provided to the The Sun by GRU Communications Director David Warm:
"We are still assessing the full extent of the damage, but the storm was powerful enough to take out two transmission lines, which is an unusual event. We’re working on restoring power to those lines in addition to several wires down and multiple other outages. In addition to GRU’s line crews, we have mutual aid assistance from Kissimmee Utility Authority, Lake Worth Beach Utilities, Leesburg Utility Services and Lubbock Power & Light. We also have additional trees crews assisting. On the water/wastewater side, numerous lift stations are without power, so we ask customers to limit water use as much as possible. As always, we will continue working until all services are restored."
U.S. 27 at Northwest 234th Street in High Springs is closed due to downed power lines. Avoid the area.
Here is a breakdown of those who checked into a shelter in Alachua County on Thursday:
- Special-needs shelter: 21
- MLK Multi-purpose Center: 36
- Easton-Newberry Sports Complex: 35
Power outages as of 10 a.m. Friday.
- Gainesville Regional Utilities - 49,075
- Clay Electric - 21,666
- Duke Energy - 4,989
- CFEC - 941
- FPL - 610
This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Live updates: Helene causes widespread power outages, downed trees in Alachua County
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