JEA Prepares for Hurricane Ian, Response Procedures in Place

2022-09-26

JACKSONVILLE – JEA leadership is closely monitoring Hurricane Ian to ensure the utility’s readiness for the storm. JEA Managing Director & CEO Jay Stowe ordered JEA’s Emergency Operations Center (EOC) to operate at partial Activation status. At this level, the EOC will perform around-the-clock storm monitoring and release scheduled communications to internal teams, field crews and customers with pertinent storm updates.

According to forecasts, Hurricane Ian will likely produce steady, strong winds and rain starting late Wednesday, at the earliest, in Northeast Florida. While it’s still too early to know the impact from the storm, JEA is preparing for potential widespread outages and flooding in low-lying areas.

“Regardless of the impact, all 2,000+ JEA team members are ready to mobilize and restore power and water as soon as possible for our customers, as we prepare year-round for all types of severe weather,” Stowe said.

In addition, mutual aid crews from outside the impact area are on standby and mobilizing to assist in the restoration process as needed.
As part of normal storm preparation, starting Tuesday JEA will temporarily suspend customer disconnections for non-payment as we mobilize to support our community.

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/storm.

Customers are encouraged to ensure their mobile phone number and email address are up to date on their jea.com account and to sign up for voice, email or text alerts. 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.

Media Contact:

Karen McAllister
JEA Media Relations
media@jea.com | (904) 665-5500

Category:

• corporate
• customer
• storm