Hurricane Jeanne Chronology

Wednesday, Sept. 23

The path of Hurricane Jeanne takes a decided turn westward after meandering in the open Atlantic for days – hundreds of miles east of Florida .

FPL’s storm team – already well aware of Jeanne and planning for any eventuality – continues to closely monitor the storm; the emergency storm plan is activated 72 hours prior to expected landfall.

Thursday, Sept. 24

After originally projecting Jeanne on a path toward the Carolinas, forecasters say the storm appears to be headed toward Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast, following the path of Hurricane Frances three weeks earlier.

As of mid-morning, Hurricane Jeanne is 613 miles east of Palm Beach moving west at 6 miles per hour with top sustained winds of 105 miles per hour.

Forecasters say Jeanne is expected to strengthen over warmer waters and could increase from a Category 2 storm to a Category 3 before landfall.

Employees at FPL’s Juno Beach headquarters are told to report to work as usual on Friday unless they receive other instructions from their supervisors.

Friday, Sept. 25

Forecasters say Jeanne could make landfall north of West Palm Beach early Sunday morning.

FPL employees at the company’s Juno Beach headquarters are released at 2 p.m. to prepare their homes; after the storm passes they are told to check with their supervisors and make plans to report to their storm assignments.

Two million people are given mandatory or voluntary evacuation orders ahead of the storm.

Saturday, Sept. 26

Just three weeks after Hurricane Frances, Florida ’s east coast begins to feel the early effects of Hurricane Jeanne, which has hurricane force winds extending 70 miles from its center and tropical force winds extending out 200 miles.

The initial winds generated by Jeanne cause 170,000 power outages in Miami-Dade and Broward counties; restoration efforts begin as soon as the winds decrease to 35 miles per hour.

FPL announces commitments from more than 2,500 out-of-state restoration personnel to supplement 6,000 members of the FPL team; the company continues to seek additional personnel.

As conditions rapidly deteriorate in Palm Beach County and counties to the north, restoration is under way in Miami-Dade and Broward counties.

Jeanne officially blows onshore as a strong Category 3 storm with 120 mile-per-hour winds.

The storm hits land just before midnight at the south end of Hutchinson Island in Martin County; at 12 miles per hour, the storm is traveling twice the speed of Frances.

Landfall is within two miles from where Hurricane Frances came ashore exactly three weeks earlier – nearly to the minute.

Not since 1886 and Texas has a state experienced four hurricanes in a single season; Jeanne is the fourth hurricane to punish Florida in six weeks.

Sunday, Sept. 26

For several hours, Jeanne hammers northern Palm Beach County and areas to the north including Martin, St. Lucie, Indian River and Brevard counties where thousands of poles and miles of wire are down.

The hardest hit areas suffer devastating property damages and widespread flooding; overnight curfews are established.

By 2 p.m. Jeanne is downgraded to a tropical storm; now 400 miles wide, it is expected to drench the peninsula with 5 to 10 inches of rain as it moves toward Georgia and then the Carolinas.

Six storm-related deaths are reported in Florida, adding to a death toll of more than 1,500 in Haiti, 24 in the Dominican Republic and seven in Puerto Rico.

Throughout Florida, about 2.6 million Florida homes and businesses lose power because of Hurricane Jeanne.

FPL reports more than 1.7 million of its customers lost power as a result of Jeanne.

By the end of the day, power is restored to all 25,000 customers affected in Miami-Dade County.

Monday, Sept. 27

By mid-morning on the first full day of restoration, bolstered by good weather after Jeanne’s speedy departure from its service area, FPL restores power to more than 750,000 customers; this leaves just under one million without power.

More than half of those without power live in the heavily-damaged counties of Palm Beach , Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.

To ensure that it meets customer demand for electricity, the company utilizes its commercial and industrial load management resources.

Progress continues during the day and by evening service is restored to nearly half of the 1.7 million FPL customers affected; 890,000 are still without power.

Tuesday, Sept. 28

Overnight work reduces the number of outages to 623,200; of the more than 1.7 million FPL customers affected by Jeanne, power is restored to more than 1.1 million.

Estimated times of restoration are announced with full power expected to be restored in the hardest hit areas by Oct. 12, 16 days after the storm; the vast majority can expect to have power back on well before then.

With more than 10,600 people committed to the restoration process – approximately 7,000 FPL workers joined by 3,600 out-of-state linemen and line clearing personnel – exceptional progress is made on day 2 of restoration; 148,000 customers are returned to service, bringing the number without power down to 475,500.

Nearly two-thirds of those still without power are in Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast counties of Martin, St. Lucie and Indian River.

Wednesday, Sept. 29

Overnight, power is restored to another 50,000 customers, bringing the number without power down to 425,800 heading into the third full day of restoration.

Of 80 transmission sections impacted by Jeanne, 73 are cleared and back in service; none of the company’s 1,100 circuit miles of 500 kV transmission lines are affected.

Service is restored to all 30 FPL substations initially affected by Jeanne.

All of the fossil power plants taken off line due to the storm are back in service, and the company says it has adequate power resources to meet customer demand going forward.

The two nuclear units at St. Lucie on Hutchinson Island near where the center of Jeanne made landfall remain off line to complete post-storm safety and support checklists with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC)and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA); unit 1 is expected to be back in service over the weekend and unit 2 shortly thereafter.

Restoration is completed in eight counties impacted by Jeanne, including Flagler County today.

During the day and through the evening, another 117,000 customers receive power.

As the third full day of restoration draws to a close, service is restored to more than 1.4 million of the 1.7 million plus customers affected by Jeanne and 309,000 remain without power.

Thursday, Sept. 30

Nighttime work reduces the number of customers without power to 286,300.

Restoration is expected to be essentially completed on the Florida west coast today.

By noon , power is restored to 92 percent of the 1.7 million initially affected by Hurricane Jeanne; 240,700 remain without power.

The number of out-of-state work crews committed to the restoration process reaches 6,200.

The combination of progress to date and increasing numbers of out-of-state assistance allows FPL to revise its estimated time of restoration to no later than Saturday, Oct. 9 in the hardest-hit areas – three days earlier than originally scheduled.

Estimated times of restoration for most other areas still without power also are reduced by anywhere from three to six days.

By evening, power is restored in 10 of the 30 counties affected by Jeanne.

The total work force is upped to nearly 15,000, including 6,200 out-of-state and 8,700 FPL workers.

Crews and contractors from 27 states and Canada are taking part in the restoration process.

Near the end of the fourth full day of restoration, power is restored to more than 1.5 million customers with 198,400 remaining without power.

Friday, Oct. 1 Overnight restoration brings the number without electricity to 174,800; of the 1.7 million customers affected by Jeanne, power is restored to 90 percent. Of the 30 counties hit by Jeanne, power restoration is complete in 18 counties. More work crews are moving into the hardest-hit areas of the Treasure Coast and Palm Beach County; during the week the number increases from around 1,600 in the field to more than 4,600 in those areas. The vast majority of the 971 essential function facilities in the most damaged areas are energized and power is restored to most schools in the areas. The two nuclear units at the St. Lucie Plant on Hutchinson Island are in the process of being brought back into operation after receiving the go-ahead from FEMA and the NRC; both were shut down as a safety measure before Hurricane Jeanne came ashore.

FPL transmission crews work to rebuild a damaged distribution feeder in a flooded area in western Palm Beach County.

Near the end of the fifth full day of restoration, only 159,000 customers of the more than 1.7 million affected by Hurricane Jeanne remain out of power.

Saturday, Oct. 2

Heading into the sixth day of restoration, FPL reports that 95 percent of affected customers have power.

As the pace of restoration accelerates, it’s now expected that every customer will be restored no later than Tuesday, several days ahead of schedule.

By early afternoon, the number of customers still without power is cut to 93,200; 22 of the 30 counties affected by Jeanne are now fully restored.

Sunday, Oct. 3

The weekend focus on restoration continues to produce positive results; by early afternoon, only 26,300 are still out of power in seven counties heavily damaged by Jeanne.

Unit 1 at the St. Lucie nuclear power plant, shut down before landfall of Hurricane Jeanne as a safety precaution, begins returning to service.

By the end of Day 7, power is restored in Palm Beach County, where nearly 600,000 customers were affected by Jeanne.

Overall, in just seven days, power is restored to more than 1.7 million FPL customers.

Monday, Oct. 4

As the eighth full day of restoration begins, less than 10,000 are still without power.

By early evening, the company announces that restoration of the 1.7 million customers left without power by Hurricane Jeanne is essentially complete.