FPL prepares 18,000 workers to restore power after Hurricane Dorian

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (FOX 35 ORLANDO) - Power crews from across the country are arriving into Central Florida as Dorian moves across the Atlantic.

A caravan of power crews is at the Daytona Speedway ready to get their assignments to restore power. Hundreds of trucks and an army of 18,000 workers total are ready to help Florida Power & Light (FPL) restore power to whoever needs it if Dorian hits the Sunshine State.

Roger Johnson told Fox 35 that "I was in a tornado before and I know how it feels to be without everything and getting everything back so when you see people in distress, you do the best you can to help them out."

Dorian was once projected to impact all of Central Florida, but is now projected to only move along the east coast of Florida, possibly bringing tropical storm conditions to Brevard County. However, despite this shift, power crews are still preparing for the worst.

"You get a lot of rain even with tropical storm force winds. Trees can start going over and then there will be outages. But we will not stop until the lights come on," Johnson added.

Workers are coming from 34 different states and from as far away as California and Canada. These workers are giving up days, maybe even weeks, away from family to help people here.

People are grateful for these power crews, especially as they put themselves in harm's way for others. Johnson said that arriving into a neighborhood is "like Christmas, opening up that fresh present on Christmas Day and when you pull in the neighborhood, everybody’s out there waiting for you."

If the lights go out, crews will first focus on restoring power to power plants. Then emergency locations like police, fire, and hospitals. Then the largest power lines.

For updates during and after Hurricane Dorian, download the FPL app.

HOW YOU CAN PREPARE FOR DORIAN

See what schools are closed HERE.

Build a hurricane kit HERE.

Find the nearest emergency shelter HERE.

You can find a list of locations where you can stock up on sandbags HERE.

For the latest on Dorian, visit ORLANDOHURRICANE.com.

You can also monitor the tropics with the Fox 35 Weather App.