Hurricane season begins: FPL is ready and urges customers to prepare
JUNO BEACH, Fla., June 1, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Monday, June 1, is the official start of the six-month Atlantic hurricane season. Florida Power & Light Company (FPL) prepares year-round by building a stronger, more storm-resilient electric grid to serve customers. And our crews are ready to respond if a storm should hit. We plan for this and urge our customers to make their emergency plans for the season as well.
What can you do to prepare for hurricane season? Here are some tips to consider, whether you are a longtime Floridian or new to the state:
- Make an emergency plan and share it with your family.
- If you have a generator, read the instruction manual to get a complete understanding of how to operate it safely during a potential outage.
- Be sure to keep yourself and your tools at least 10 feet away from power lines and never trim vegetation near power lines yourself. Have a qualified line-clearing professional trim trees near your home.
- Check radios, flashlights and stock up on batteries to be prepared for potential power outages.
- Consider whether you will shelter in place at your home or evacuate, as well as where you would go and whether you need a separate plan for pets.
- Have a plan ready – including evacuation or backup generation – for any family members who rely on medically necessary devices that require electricity.
- Make safety a part of your plan: Stay far away from and do not touch any downed power lines or flooded and debris-laden areas that may be hiding downed power lines. Call 911 and 1-800-4-OUTAGE (1-800-468-8243) if you see downed power lines or damaged electrical equipment.
- Bookmark FPL.com, download the FPL Mobile App and save 1-800-4-OUTAGE (1-800-468-8243) to your cell phone to report and check the status of your restoration.
How does FPL prepare for hurricane season? FPL strengthens the electric grid with undergrounding and hardening and enhances it with innovative designs and technologies. And our entire company participates in a week-long annual storm drill. Preparing the electric grid to be more storm-resilient includes:
- Hardening the electric system with resilient designs – such as steel, concrete and reinforced wooden power poles.
- Approximately 97% of all transmission structures serving FPL customers throughout Florida are either steel or concrete. The transmission system is critical to delivering reliable electricity from FPL's power plants to communities throughout the state.
- Undergrounding power lines in neighborhoods strategically with the Storm Secure Underground Program, which targets areas based on reliability and power outage data to improve resiliency systemwide, while also improving efficiency during storm restoration.
- To date, about 2,000 miles of neighborhood power lines have been converted underground through FPL's Storm Secure Underground Program.
- Installing smart grid technology that helps customers avoid some outages altogether and enables FPL to restore power faster following hurricanes and severe weather.
- During the three landfalling hurricanes in 2024 – Debby, Helene and Milton – smart grid devices helped avoid approximately 824,000 customer outages.
- Maintaining trees and other vegetation around thousands of miles of FPL's power lines.
- FPL leverages "smart trimming technology," including Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) imagery, to help company arborists efficiently manage vegetation around electrical equipment, reducing a leading cause of outages during hurricanes and severe weather.
- FPL's storm-hardening investments help customers get their power back faster following hurricanes and severe weather, but no electric grid is 100% stormproof. That's why it's important to have your emergency plan in place before a storm, including how you will respond to potential power outages.
A word from Scott Bores, FPL president and CEO: "Despite forecasts predicting a below-average hurricane season this year, we know all it takes is one landfalling hurricane to severely impact the lives of our customers — and we cannot afford to be complacent. At FPL, we stand ready to weather these storms and serve our customers, and we urge all Floridians to share this commitment by taking the time now to make their emergency plans."
Where can customers go for more hurricane preparedness information? For tips and advice on developing emergency plans, visit FPL.com/Storm. This site includes checklists, suggestions and resources for Floridians preparing their homes and/or businesses for hurricane season.
Please visit FPL Newsroom's Digital Library for video and images of FPL storm response, technology and more.
About Florida Power & Light Company
Florida Power & Light Company is America's largest electric utility, delivering reliable power to more than 6 million customer accounts — serving approximately 12 million people across Florida. By leveraging a diverse energy mix, including nuclear, natural gas, solar and battery storage, FPL operates one of the most fuel- and cost-efficient power generation fleets in the U.S. and has earned the ReliabilityOne® National Reliability Award for eight of the last 11 years. FPL is a subsidiary of Juno Beach, Florida-based NextEra Energy, Inc. (NYSE: NEE), which is one of the largest electric power and energy infrastructure companies in North America and is a leading provider of electricity to American homes and businesses. NextEra Energy is also the parent company of NextEra Energy Resources, LLC, which, together with its affiliated entities, is advancing America's energy future with one of the largest and most diverse portfolios of power generation and infrastructure solutions. For more information about NextEra Energy companies, visit these websites:
SOURCE Florida Power & Light Company
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