Linemen working around the clock to restore power after Hurricane Milton

Take a firsthand look at the day in the life of a lineman

FOX 13's Regina Gonzalez looks behind the curtain at a day in the life of a lineman working to restore power after Hurricane Milton.

TAMPA, Fla. - Linemen are working to turn the lights on for millions of Floridians who are still in the dark.

Duke Energy Lineman Matthew Richardson, explained to FOX 13, what the last two weeks on the job have looked like.

"We have poles down, so we're trying to isolate those so we can bring the customers that can get power, hot," Richardson said. "It's very tiring, we've been working nonstop between both hurricanes, its been pretty rough."

While they've made immense progress since Milton made landfall, Richardson and his team are still working to turn the lights on for hundreds of thousands of customers across the Bay Area and beyond.

Thankfully, they've had help from crews who traveled across state lines to assist, many coming from other disaster-ridden areas still ravaged from Hurricane Helene.

"We've got about 16,000 resources across the state, a lot of those here in Pinellas and Pasco County," said Ben Williamson, Duke Energy Spokesperson.

READ: Power outage tracker: How many Tampa Bay area residents are still in the dark?

"They work about 16 hours a day, then they go back to a base camp where they go into a sleeping trailer, they sleep a little bit, wake up, grab a shower, maybe grab a hot meal, then they are bused back here to staging sites like Derby Lane. That's where they get in their trucks, and they go off again to their project for the day, and they'll work another 16 hours."

As they work around the clock, linemen from several power companies want to remind customers that restoring power is not as simple as flicking a switch.

"It starts with damage assessment," Richardson explained. "We need to know what we have out before we can even put a time to it and get to work."

READ: Florida offering residents 10 free gallons of gas, Governor DeSantis announces state-run fuel sites

"A lot of this is rebuilding infrastructure, main transmission lines," Williamson added. "I had a project just last night, where 16 major poles were down at a major feeder. There's a lot of circuits on that line. That's a major infrastructure project. It takes a couple of days to do."

But they assure it will be days, not weeks before everyone's back on.

"We know it's frustrating being without power, we're out of power ourselves, just be patient," Richardson pleaded.

As of Saturday afternoon, here are the following Duke Energy, TECO and FPL power restoration timelines. Keep in mind, these are worst case scenarios, and they are hoping to restore power before these dates.

TECO

Monday, 10/14 (by 11:59 p.m.): Customers in Pasco County
Tuesday, 10/15 (by 11:59 p.m.): Customers in Polk County
Thursday, 10/17 (by 11:59 p.m.): Customers in Hillsborough, Pinellas Counties (55 percent of customers by Sunday, 75% restored by Tuesday)

DUKE

Sunday, Oct. 13 by 11:59 p.m. / Brevard, Citrus, Hernando, Highlands, Lake, Marion, Orange, Osceola, Polk, Seminole, Sumter and Volusia Counties
Tuesday, Oct. 15 by 11:59 p.m. / Pasco and Pinellas Counties

FPL

95% by end of day, Wednesday, Oct. 16 for Manatee and Sarasota Counties

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