JEA Prepared to Respond to Hurricane Ian Impacts

2022-09-27

JACKSONVILLE, FL, Sept. 27, 2022 - JEA continues to monitor Hurricane Ian as the storm approaches Florida, with more than 2,000 JEA team members ready to respond along with out-of-state mutual aid crews.

JEA’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) is at Level 3 Alert status and, consistent with the pending citywide state of emergency, will also activate a simultaneous JEA system emergency at noon on Wednesday, Sept. 28. The JEA EOC will perform around-the-clock storm monitoring and release scheduled communications to internal teams, field crews and customers with pertinent storm updates.

All areas of the utility are prepared for their assigned responses to Hurricane Ian, and essential employees have and are, in some cases, already implementing their storm assignments. The utility has mobilized generators and pumps to vulnerable facilities, and resources are available for deployment post-storm.

“Our customers’ wellbeing is our highest priority.  Teams of customer service professionals are ready to provide support as our service crews work to restore power, water and address any related emergencies.  We are here when you need us,” said Chief Customer Officer Sheila Pressley.

According to forecasts, Hurricane Ian likely will produce heavy rain, strong wind and a chance of tornadoes in Northeast Florida. While it’s still too early to know the full impacts from the storm, JEA is preparing for potential widespread outages and flooding in low-lying areas.

JEA also has prepared staging areas for mutual aid utility crews at the Jacksonville Equestrian Center and Florida State College at Jacksonville South campus. More than 300 utility personnel from Texas, Alabama and New England are scheduled to arrive at the staging areas between Wednesday and Friday. The crews will be prepared to assist JEA in responding to our community’s needs as quickly and safely as possible.

JEA encourages all residential and commercial customers to prepare now for possible storm-related impacts, including outages. Customers can visit jea.com/storm to learn how to prepare  and find other important resources. To report outages, customers can visit jea.com or call 904-665-6000.

Customers who have enrolled in outage alerts also can text “OUT” to MyJEA (69532) to report their outage.

JEA will keep customers informed with preparation tips, developments and important notifications via email and social media. Community members also can learn how to prepare for dangerous storms and find other important resources at jea.com.

Customers are encouraged to ensure their contact information is up to date on their jea.com account and to sign up for voice, email or text alerts at jea.com/storm. This will allow JEA to contact customers directly with updates on a power outage.

JEA has worked throughout the year to prepare for severe weather in a number of ways:

• Storm Hardening: JEA has made significant investments to harden our electric, water and sewer systems to make them more resistant to storm-related disruptions. These critical repairs and improvements help us restore power and return to normal operations more quickly after a major storm
• Year-Round Tree Trimming: While strong winds and heavy rains cause their share of storm damage, most storm-related power outages result from tree branches falling on power lines.
• Water & Sewer Upgrades: The utility has made significant investments to upgrade our water and sewer facilities, and has installed backup generators to reduce the risk of storm-related service interruptions.

About JEA

JEA is a not-for-profit, community-owned utility located in Jacksonville, Florida, proudly serving an estimated 505,000 electric, 382,000 water, 302,000 sewer and 22,000 reclaimed water customers. JEA is not owned by investors. It was created by the City of Jacksonville to serve those who live in Jacksonville and in the surrounding communities. The sole purpose of JEA’s business is to ensure the electric, water and sewer demands of its customers are met, both today and for generations to come with the goal to provide reliable services at the best value to our customers while ensuring our precious natural resources are protected.

Category:

• electric
• storm
• water