Are they really ready?

Florida Power and Light aka FPL is claiming to be ready for this year's hurricane season. Of the four that struck Florida in 2004, three Charly, Jeanne and Francis had caused severe disruptions to FPL customers. I remember it vividly, we were without electric for eight days after Francis and for 36 hours after Jeanne.

Here are bits of Palm Beach Post article from yesterday. www.pbpost.com.

By Kristi E. Swartz
Palm Beach Post Staff Writer


Monday, May 30, 2005

Last month, Armando Olivera made this pledge to an audience in West Palm Beach:

"Ever since the storms last year, we have been hard at work getting ready for 2005," said Olivera, president of Florida Power & Light Co. "We will be ready for whatever this season brings our way."

What's new in 2005• More trees and vegetation will be cleared this year.• Customers will know, within 24 hours after a storm's winds die down, the last possible day electricity will be restored. And 48 hours after that, each county will have its own restoration date.• About two days after the counties get restoration dates, FPL will try to break counties down by halves or quarters to give target dates for certain areas.

This will be a nice change from the aftermath of Francis. After promising for days that people would get a date for restoration, it was finally done. It was a generic date, not one broken done by neighborhoods or even towns.


The coming months — the hurricane season starts Wednesday — could give him plenty of opportunity to fulfill that vow.

Forecasters at the federal National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration are predicting a highly active hurricane season this year, with 12 to 15 tropical storms, seven to nine of which will become hurricanes. Three to five will be major storms of Category 3 or larger, forecasters say.

The media has been playing up these predictions, but they are really guesses. No one knows what Hurricane season will be like. In 1992 there were no named storms till mid-August. Everyone remembers the first, it was Andrew.

And now, with June 1 just hours away, one question tops them all:
Is FPL ready for another hurricane season?

Absolutely, FPL says.

I don't think any company is ready for a season like Florida had in 2004.

The article went on to say.

Geisha Williams, FPL's distribution vice president said "There's no such thing as hurricane-proof."

After 2004 I have to agree.