Naples has not been affected by a hurricane since Hurricane Wilma in 2005. The current activity trend for Hurricanes over the past few years is an eastern route traveling up the east coast of the US. New York and New Jersey receive more of the hurricane affects than Florida during the past dozen hurricane seasons.
Preparation for any type of emergency is crucial. And with storm season upon us, it’s time to make sure you, your family and your business has a plan to put into action when storm warnings and watches are posted. Just ask Iliana Rentz. She is manager of emergency preparedness for Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), the largest energy company in the state, serving more than 4.9 million customer accounts or about 10 million people across half the state. Any time there isn’t a storm, the company prepares for one. And, last year was no different.
“Mother Nature showed her strength and unpredictability last year, testing us and many Floridians,” Rentz said. “Our employees were prepared and ready to respond because of the constant training they receive. And, the energy grid was prepared, as well, due to the nearly $3 billion in investments we have made over the past 11 years that provide reliable service to our customers in good weather and bad.”
FPL’s investments to the grid were tested last year during Hurricane Matthew and demonstrated its benefit to customers. The company was able to restore 99 percent of customers affected by the storm by the end of two full days of restoration following the hurricane’s exit from its service area. Automated switches installed on poles and wires prevented 118,000 customer interruptions and no FPL transmission poles and strengthened main power line poles failed. Since Hurricane Wilma, FPL has made the energy grid stronger, smarter and more storm- resilient to provide reliable service to its customers and to get the communities it serves back to normal faster following severe weather or a tropical storm. The company has prepared the grid over the past 11 years by:
• Strengthening main power lines, including those that serve more than 700 critical community facilities and services, such as hospitals, police and fire stations, grocery stores, gas stations and other services necessary for communities to recover after a storm;
• Clearing vegetation —a major cause of power outages —from more than 150,000 miles of power lines;
• Inspecting the company’s 1.2 million power poles every eight years, and upgrading or replacing those that no longer meet FPL's standards for strength (approximately 150,000 poles inspected annually)
• Installing more than 4.9 million smart meters and 66,000 intelligent devices to help predict, reduce and prevent power outages, and restore power faster if outages occur.
Even though Naples and Southwest Florida has not been affected by a hurricane in 12 years, Nova Homes of South Florida builds every home with the same hurricane protection. Always better to be safe. Nova Homes follows all hurricane regulations, and commonly exceeds those regulations. For more information please call 239.307.6116 or visit www.novahomesbuilder.com