HOBE SOUND, Fla. — Florida Power & Light crews worked through freezing temperatures Sunday night to restore power to thousands of customers across South Florida after strong winds from a cold front damaged power lines and left homes in the dark.
In Martin County, residents waited patiently for electricity to return while linemen worked under a freeze warning to repair damaged infrastructure.
WATCH BELOW: Power crews work to restore electricity after outages
Ramon Marrone, who built his home in Hobe Sound 22 years ago after moving from New Jersey, found himself relying on a generator to keep his lights on.
"I moved to Florida because of the warm, humid, lovely weather," said Marrone. "There were no lights. I've gone through many hurricanes in Florida. That was really amazing that the wind hit so fiercely."
The utility company reports that recent outages have been driven largely by strong winds that damaged local power lines and related equipment, combined with increased electricity demand from heating systems during the cold snap.
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Marrone spoke with WPTV reporter Zitlali Solache and explained he had been without power for nearly 15 hours.
"No lights, no heat," said Marrone. "It’s about 15 hours now that we haven’t had power."
"Outages have primarily been the result of strong winds impacting local power lines and associated equipment," FPL spokesperson Conlan Kennedy said in a statement to WPTV. "Our crews are working to restore service in these situations as quickly as possible."
Kennedy explained that extreme cold weather creates additional challenges for the power grid. During cold snaps, home heating systems can use two to three times more electricity than air conditioning, placing added strain on neighborhood equipment and contributing to localized outages.
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Across the region, thousands of homes lost electricity, leaving residents without heat during the coldest temperatures of the season.
Another Hobe Sound resident, Kay Tyler, said the outage impacted daily routines. "We can't cook, we can't watch tv but we do have our iPads that have cell connection so we can watch that," said Tyler.
As of Sunday night, outage numbers vary significantly across the region. Palm Beach County had 2,883 customers without power, followed by Martin County with 782 and Indian River County with 542 outages.
Customers experiencing power outages should report them at FPL.com or by calling 1-800-4OUTAGE (1-800-468-8243). Visit the FPL outage map for up-to-date outage numbers.
