Over 3,000 Florida Power & Light (FPL) employees participated in an annual storm drill.
The drill is designed to test their response to a simulated hurricane. The drill lasts a week and is important for the FPL's year-round training.
During the exercise a mock category four storm made landfall in Southwest Florida. The employees tested and role-played how they would respond during a severe storm.
They were tested on their response times, restoration efforts, communications, and customer service.
The upcoming hurricane season is the first since Hurricane Ian made landfall last year, and was recorded as the fifth-strongest storm to ever hit the U.S.
FPL has made significant investments to strengthen power grids against extreme weather and to improve day-to-day reliability.
Some of the improvements include:
- Hardening main power lines that serve critical community facilities and services
- Installing more than 200,000 intelligent devices along the energy grid to detect and prevent power outages and minimize restoration times when outages occur.
- Placing more neighborhood power lines underground through the Storm Secure Underground Program, which has completed more than 1,200 projects through the end of 2022.
During the training,FPL demonstrated new and innovative ways to assist with storm restoration.
One of these ways includes a mobile command center emergency vehicle. The vehicle provides FPL with on-scene command and control during emergencies.
In addition, FPL unveiled its EVolution trailer, the state’s first electric vehicle (EV) mobile-charging trailer that provides “on-the-go” fast charging during evacuations.
FPL reminds customers that every storm is different. Staying connected with FPL can help customers make decisions, before, during, and after a storm:
