29-05-2025
TECO boosts storm response for active hurricane season
TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Last hurricane season, the Tampa Bay area was hit hard with streets under water, homes damaged, and lives forever changed.
In addition to the damage, many people were dealing with power outages. After Hurricane Milton, nearly 600,000 TECO customers were without power, and most of the outages lasted for days.
'We get tons of calls during storms last year with the storms that we had. We were overwhelmed for two storms in a row with like 20 straight days of work with only two days off, 16-hour days,' said Donnie Newman, TECO, skills training center.
Now, with another hurricane season just days away, Tampa Electric Company says it's ready for any storm.
From lessons learned, TECO is investing in system upgrades and storm hardening strategies, from underground power lines to strengthening infrastructure and using technology to reduce outages and speed up availability and response time.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
