In comparison, restoration costs from Hurricane Harvey, which struck Texas and Louisiana over the Labor Day weekend in 2017, were estimated to total $125 billion. Therefore, the repair costs from Hurricane Florence may be large - some estimates have ranged from $20 billion to $30 billion for all types of damage, not just utilities. The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission in March 2017 said the Brunswick plant's buildings were estimated as capable of handling a storm surge of up to 7 feet at the reactor buildings, while the Surry plant's greater risks are flooding from heavy rainfall that could top the plant's barriers, the UCS statement said.

Also, the 973-MW Shearon Harris plant is in an area southwest of Raleigh, North Carolina, that is most likely to be affected by severe flooding, but the region has 10 other nuclear plants near the coast that may be at risk.Īnother plant at risk is the 1,750-MW Surry nuclear plant near Williamsburg, Virginia, according to a statement from the Union of Concerned Scientists, which also cited risks at the Brunswick plant.ĭave Lochbaum, UCS nuclear safety project director, said, 'We do know that both Brunswick and Surry have had potentially serious problems that we hope they fixed.' One issue that complicates the situation may be the high concentration of nuclear power along the potential impact areas.ĭuke's 1,928-MW Brunswick plant is on a coastal area near Southport, North Carolina, that could face a 20-foot storm surge, with as much as 40 inches of rainfall, and the storm surge alone could cause flooding at the plant, according to S&P Global Platts Analytics. Georgia Power spokeswoman Meredith Stone said, 'We are holding our crews in place until Florence makes landfall and we know where they are needed.' 'Regardless of development, heavy rainfall and gusty winds are expected across portions of northeastern Mexico, Texas, and Louisiana late this week,' the National Hurricane Center said.Īnother utility that has not yet moved repair workers in preparation for the storm is Georgia Power, as Florence's forecast path has moved south to encompass more of that state. Another 9,400 workers are coming from other utilities to help.Īmong those are about 100 people each from Entergy Arkansas and Entergy Mississippi, but Entergy Texas is keeping its crews on standby as the National Hurricane Center gives a tropical disturbance located in the central Gulf of Mexico a 70% chance of becoming a cyclone by Friday afternoon. More than 8,000 Carolinas-based workers are being joined by 1,700 workers from Duke Energy Midwest and 1,200 from Duke Energy Florida to respond to this storm. 'With the storm expected to linger, power restoration work could take weeks instead of days.'ĭuke is bringing in more than 20,000 people to restore power - the company's largest-ever resource mobilization. 'The magnitude of the storm is beyond what we have seen in years,' said Howard Fowler, Duke Energy's incident commander. Receive daily email alerts, subscriber notes & personalize your experience.Īs Hurricane Florence approached the Atlantic Seaboard and a tropical disturbance looked increasingly likely to become a cyclone threatening the US Gulf Coast, power companies shifted thousands of workers toward likely trouble areas, and industry observers pondered a future with grids fighting disasters on multiple fronts.ĭuke Energy meteorologists on Wednesday said power outages from Hurricane Florence could range between 1 million and 3 million customers.

Florence utilities