WEATHER UPDATE - Thursday afternoon, 9/29

Hurricane Ian is expected to leave Florida by 10 p.m. tonight. The storm is now in the Atlantic Ocean and moving slowly away from Central Florida.

The rainfall situation remains very serious as historic flooding is taking place. So far, the County has received 10 – 16 inches of rain with more taking place this afternoon. Orange County remains under a tropical storm warning. Wind gusts remain on the far east side of the County and are expected to gradually diminish soon.

Mayor Jerry L. Demings toured the Orlo Vista area, of the hardest hit areas in Orange County. This area has a history of severe flooding issues. Because of this, the Orange County Public Works teams were in the area in advance of the storm working hard to lower the water levels in the area. Despite this proactive effort, the double-digit rainfall caused the area to flood. Orange County is committed to making significant improvements to this area.

SHELTERS

Orange County continues to operate shelters for evacuees, keeping residents safe from the storm and flooding. As of 6 p.m. there were approximately 1,300 people in the shelters, 220 of those are people with special needs.

UTILITIES

Orange County Utilities staff completed initial assessment of infrastructure and facilities for power outages, damages and flooding. Our water services were not interrupted.

Customers are being asked, when possible, to reduce their water usage to minimize the impact on the pump stations. This allows crews to more effectively complete their emergency operation activities.

For wastewater emergencies such as sewage back-up, please contact Orange County Utilities Emergency Dispatch at 407-836-2777 or call 311.

POWER OUTAGES

Representatives from Duke Energy and Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) provided updates.

Duke Energy has already restored 30,000 customers as of 6 p.m. They will issue estimated time of restoration to others tomorrow starting at 10 a.m.

OUC currently has 54,000 customers without power. Additionally, they experience three watermain breaks that have all been repaired.

The power companies remind everyone to not touch downed power lines and to operate generators with proper safety precautions.

Emergency Operations Center

Chief Lauraleigh Avery provided updates on restoring Orange County communities back to normal. They are fully engaged in monitoring the weather with the team working around the clock to keep the County safe.