Longboat Key outages leave up to 4,000 residents without power

Throughout the day on Tuesday, Aug. 20, Longboat Key residents experienced sporadic power outages that left 4,000 residents without power at their peak. 

According to a statement from the town of Longboat Key at 2:39 p.m., the town was receiving reports of power outages. Assistant to the Town Manager Susan Phillips said the issue was not related to the ongoing utilities  project to bury power lines.

“The only verifiable information is from Florida Power & Light, that the outage was due to a failed FPL main feeder in Sarasota, with no ETA on repair,” Phillips said in the statement. 

Kamrel Eppinger, spokesperson for FPL, told the Observer at 5:03 p.m. that many of the customers affected by the outage had power restored in about 90 minutes, and the remaining customers without power had it restored by 5 p.m. 

“We recognize how challenging it is to be without power and are aware of a service interruption that impacted approximately 4,000 customers on Longboat Key. Most of these customers were restored in about 90 minutes and we worked safely and as quickly as possible to restore the remaining customers by 5 p.m. We apologize for the inconvenience,” Eppinger said in the statement. 

The statement did not include any specifics about the cause of the outages. 

But, at around 7 p.m., FPL was reportedly advising customers that about 2,200 customers were still experiencing outages. The company's outage tracker map also showed reports of numerous outages after 5 p.m.

To report and check on outages in your area, visit FPL.com/outage.