What Ian and Milton Teach Us About Hurricane Backup Power in Southwest Florida

What the official records show about hurricane backup power

Two storms, two different profiles. Ian was a Category 4 at landfall with winds near 150 mph, and the surge and wind damage was concentrated in Lee County. Milton was a Category 3 near Siesta Key, farther north, yet it still knocked out power to millions across the state. The lesson is that the outage does not depend on where the eye crosses the coast: Lee County lost power in both events, once from a direct hit and once from a storm whose landfall was in Sarasota County.

Outage duration varies, even on the same street

The figure people remember from Ian is twelve days. That is real, but it describes the last LCEC customers in Lee County to be reconnected, not the typical home. Most customers came back sooner; the ones who waited longest were on barrier islands and in neighborhoods where poles, transformers or the homes themselves had to be rebuilt before service could be restored. The useful planning question is not how long the outage lasted after Ian but how long your address could be out: a house on Pine Island or Fort Myers Beach has a different exposure than one inland in Lehigh Acres or Estero. Nationally, the Energy Information Administration counts an average of about 11 hours without power per customer in 2024, with hurricanes responsible for 80 percent of that total. Southwest Florida’s share of those hours was far above the average.

Fuel and maintenance planning for a multi-day run

A standby generator that runs for days is doing something it rarely does the rest of the year. Two things follow. First, fuel: a natural gas unit depends on the utility’s pipeline staying pressurized, which usually happens but is not guaranteed; a propane unit depends on what is in the tank, and deliveries slow down when every truck in the county is busy. Know your model’s consumption at the load you actually run and size the tank to the number of days you want to cover. Second, maintenance: Generac’s owner’s manual brings the oil and filter change forward to every 100 hours in continuous hot-weather operation, which a long outage reaches in just over four days. A unit that was serviced in the spring, with a fresh battery and a full tank, is the one that is still running on day five.

Which loads matter for days, not hours

An outage of a few hours is about convenience. An outage of several days in September is about the house itself. Air conditioning keeps humidity down, and the EPA notes that mold can begin growing on damp materials within 24 to 48 hours. A closed refrigerator holds safe temperatures for about four hours and a full freezer for about 48, according to FoodSafety.gov; after that the food is a loss. Well pumps, medical refrigeration, sump and lift pumps, garage doors, Wi-Fi and the ability to charge phones round out the list. When we size a system we start from this list, not from square footage, and we ask which loads can be managed in turns rather than all at once.

The limits of standby power

Honesty here saves disappointment later. A standby generator does not protect a house from surge or wind; if the home floods, the generator is likely to be damaged too, which is why placement and elevation are reviewed in flood zones. It cannot run without fuel, and it cannot fix a tripped breaker, a damaged service entrance or a transfer switch under water. Remote monitoring needs a cellular or internet signal that may itself be down in the first days. Portable generators are a different product with their own carbon monoxide rules, and Gen-Power does not install them. And no installer can put in a system between a watch and a landfall: Ian’s and Milton’s lesson is that the work happens in the off season.

Your preparation checklist

The operational checklist lives in our hurricane preparedness hub and is updated every season. These are the planning decisions this history points to; take them to that checklist before June 1.

• Decide how many days of fuel you want on site and confirm the tank size or gas service matches
• Book annual maintenance in spring so the battery, oil and filters are fresh before the season
• Write down the loads you need for days: air conditioning, refrigeration, pumps, medical equipment, communications
• Confirm who has property access and authority to approve service if you evacuate
• Save the office number and your monitoring login where you can reach them without Wi-Fi

Talk to Gen-Power before the next season

Gen-Power has served Lee, Collier and Charlotte counties since 2017, through Ian and Milton, and that experience shapes how we size, place and maintain systems today. Call (239) 674-3569 or request an assessment, and bring your address, your fuel situation and the list of loads you need to carry for days.