Thousands of Tampa Bay area residents without power amid Hurricane Helene

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — More than 10,000 Tampa Bay area residents are without power Thursday morning as Hurricane Helene makes its way toward Florida’s Gulf Coast.

Hurricane Helene was upgraded to a Category 3 hurricane Thursday. The system is currently moving northward in the Gulf of Mexico and is expected to bring “catastrophic” storm surge and wind to parts of Florida, according to the National Hurricane Center.

As of the 2 p.m. update, Helene is located 170 miles southwest of Tampa and 205 miles south-southwest of Apalachicola. It’s moving at 16 mph.

Maximum sustained winds are 120 mph.

Tampa Electric Company

As of 3:20 p.m., 7,080 customers have reported power outages.

Click to see TECO’s power outage map.

To report an outage to TECO, you can make a report on its website .

If you see a down power line or open transformer, call 813-223-0800 or 1-888-223-0800. You can also report gas leaks by calling 1-877-TECO-PGS (1-877-832-6747).

Peace River Electric

The following counties have reported outages:

• Hardee : 30 customers
• Manatee: 601 customers
• Polk: 4 customers

You can report an outage online or call 800-282-3824.

Click here to view the outage map.

Florida Power and Light

The following counties have reported outages:

• Manatee: 2,950 customers
• Sarasota: 2,570 customers

To learn how to report an outage, you can visit the FPL website . You can also see the outage map here .

Duke Energy

Duke Energy anticipates restoring 95% of customer’s power in Pinellas and Pasco counties before midnight on Monday.

The following counties have reported outages:

• Hernando : 2 customers
• Pasco: 566 customers
• Pinellas: 1,090 customers
• Polk: 440 customers

You can report an outage on the Duke Energy website or by calling 800-228-8485. To see the outage map, click here .

Lakeland Electric

10 outages have been reported in Lakeland.

You can report an outage on the Lakeland Electric website or by calling 863-834-4248. To see the outage map, click here .

Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative

The following counties have reported outages:

• Hernando: 70 customers
• Pasco: 1,429 customers

Check WREC’s outage map here.

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