Hurricane Nicole made landfall just south of Vero Beach early Thursday and the storm's impacts were being felt throughout Palm Beach County and the Treasure Coast.
Strong winds from the storm's outer bands knocked out electricity to Florida Power & Light customers along the state's eastern coast.
FPL had hundreds of linemen staged at the South Florida Fairgrounds, ready to restore power as soon as it is safe to do so.
TRACKING THE TROPICS: Hurricane Center | Hurricane Guide
More than 2,000 FPL customers were without power in Palm Beach County as of Thursday afternoon.
On the Treasure Coast, more than 1,000 customers were without power in Martin County, while more than 2,000 customers in St. Lucie County and more than 5,000 in Indian River County were in the dark.
There were more than 30 reported outages in Okeechobee County.
"Right now, it is almost all related to trees going down and debris (blowing) into our lines and our substations," FPL CEO Eric Silagy said during a Thursday afternoon news conference.
FPL said it mobilized 13,000 in advance of Nicole's landfall.
The wind speeds must be 35 mph or less in order for workers to repair downed power lines and address outages.
Since 2006, FPL has spent billions of dollars strengthening the grid.
To find the latest outages where you live, click here.
