JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Darryl Dyal spent most of his day on Tuesday picking up limbs on his four-acre property.
“Yesterday, of course, the storm came through, and about 7 o’clock, this big tree limb fell over on the driveway over here and took out the power for this end of the island,” he said.
His property on Fort George Island is surrounded by century-old trees. Strong wind gusts from Tropical Storm Debby on Monday sent debris flying everywhere and heavy rain soaked tree limbs that ended up crashing down.
“It really wasn’t that bad,” Dyal said. “I’ve been here almost 50 years, and I’ve been through a lot worse. We thought we had escaped with nothing happening. And then later on, after everything looked like it calmed down, everything was soaking wet, and then that’s when the limbs started falling.”
News4JAX followed JEA crews as they worked to restore power for customers in Fort George. They’re working in tandem with tree trimming services and Xfinity.
“They are working as quickly and safely as possible through this storm. Our electric and water crews and tree trimmers have been working throughout this storm in dangerous conditions,” said Karen McAllister, a JEA spokeswoman.
Crews are handling restoration in three phases. First tackling public safety issues, then addressing individual customer concerns.
When repairs to all major circuits are complete, JEA will enter Phase 3, targeting the few remaining isolated outages.
“What we would like to say to customers is really to thank them for their patience. Our crews work as quickly as they can, we restored power to more than 110,000 customers,” McAllister said.
At last check, only about 150 are still without power. If everyone else in your neighborhood has power and you don’t, call (904) 665-6000 so JEA can help you determine the cause of your continued outage.
News4JAX also went back to some of the most impacted areas of the city now that the storm has moved through and into Georgia and South Carolina.
A tree fell on cars in Riverside and knocked out power and crews were out cleaning up on Tuesday.
On the Northside, Ken Knight Drive residents had concerns about flooding because it’s an area that’s historically had issues. On Tuesday, there were just small amounts of water on the road. The residents are relieved.