With last week’s hurricane behind us, here’s a brief look at Hurricane Ian’s impact on the Lakeland area.
By the numbers
- 63,500 Lakeland Electric customers lost power for up to six days. For context, that’s nearly 50% of Lakeland Electric’s 137,000 customers.
- 500 power lines were taken out by wind in Lakeland.
- 349 trees needed trimming or removal by the City of Lakeland. In North Lakeland, the Parks Department cleared 68 trees.
- 276 transformers blew in the area.
- 78 mph — That’s how fast wind speeds were during the storm’s peak hours Wednesday night and Thursday morning on Oct. 28 and 29.
- 40 FEMA trucks were contracted by the county to collect debris.
- 35 Waffle House locations closed throughout the state.
- 25 trees were cleared from Cleveland Heights Golf Course, plus acres worth of debris.
- 18 Polk County Public Schools opened as temporary hurricane shelters.
- 10.8 ft — That’s how high the Peace River had risen to by Sun., Oct. 2. Its record depth is 11.1 ft.