Florida Power & Light system 'will need to be rebuilt' because of Hurricane Ian

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Hurricane Ian made landfall in Florida Wednesday afternoon as a dangerous Category 4 hurricane, leaving more than 1 million Floridians without power.

Much of southwest Florida has experienced significant flooding, dangerously high storm surge and strong winds in the first few hours of the storm's impact.

Tuesday night into Wednesday, Ian battered the Florida Keys. The hurricane left all of Cuba without power late Tuesday.

According to tracking service Poweroutage.us, almost 2.4 million people in Florida have lost electricity, including most power customers in coastal Lee County and Charlotte County, where the cities of Fort Myers and Punta Gorda are located, respectively.

Ian is working its way through Central Florida Wednesday overnight as a powerful tropical storm.

As thousands are without power in the area, Florida Power & Light warned residents that the company expects a major overhaul will be needed to turn the lights back on after Ian.

"Hurricane Ian’s catastrophic winds will mean parts of our system will need to be rebuilt – not restored. Be prepared for widespread, extended outages as we are assessing the damage. We are already at work restoring power where we can do so safely," Florida Power & Light said.

DeSantis said in a press conference Wednesday that 5,000 Florida National Guardsmen and 2,000 guardsmen from other states have been activated to help during and after the storm.

Over 40,000 line workers and power workers have been mobilized, ready to work to get the lights back on once the danger has passed.

The governor said the continued heavy rainfall and flooding is likely going to cause trees to fall.

"The ground is already wet, which makes it more likely for trees to fall and bring down power lines," he said.

A total of 26 states have sent support.

"I want to thank them for their support, it's much appreciated," DeSantis said.

The governor said there is no doubt the storm will be devastating.

"This is going to be one of those historic storms and have a profound impact on our state," he said. "We thank people across the country for their thoughts and prayers."

DeSantis thanked Florida Power & Light for their readiness.

"These power problems are not going to be easy," he said.