JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – JEA said Sunday it is monitoring Hurricane Milton and urged customers to prepare for possible power and water outages later this week.
The National Hurricane Center upgraded Milton to a Category 1 Sunday with winds clocking in at 80 mph, movement east at 6 mph, located 815 miles from Tampa.
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Milton is forecast to bring rain damaging winds, and hazardous weather to Northeast Florida on Wednesday.
On Saturday, DeSantis declared a state of emergency in 35 counties ahead of the storm. However, on Sunday morning, DeSantis increased the number of counties under the state of emergency to 51.
The counties under a state of emergency are: Alachua, Baker, Bradford, Brevard, Broward, Charlotte, Citrus, Clay, Collier, Columbia, DeSoto, Dixie, Duval, Flagler, Gilchrist, Glades, Hamilton, Hardee, Hendry, Hernando, Highlands, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lafayette, Lake, Lee, Levy, Madison, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Sarasota, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie Sumter, Suwanee, Taylor, Union, and Volusia counties.
JEA Public Information Officer Karen McAllister encouraged customers to visit jea.com/storm to ensure their contact information is up to date and to register for power restoration alerts.
Customers are urged to be prepared for the upcoming storm by:
- Ensuring supply kits are stocked
- Bringing loose outdoor items indoors
- Ensuring trees are trimmed near your home or business
- Charging cell phones and mobile chargers
- Reviewing family or business emergency plans
JEA also asked for patience as crews assess outages caused by the storm and said they will work as safely and quickly as possible to restore services in case of an outage.
People can report an outage by visiting this website, calling 904-665-6000, or texting OUT to 69532.