Area electric utility companies track outages during Hurricane Helene

As Hurricane Helene departs Florida leaving a trail of disaster in its wake, tens of thousands of power outages in the region have been reported. 

The storm made landfall late Thursday, according to the National Hurricane Center, and across the Gulf Coast there are reports of major flooding as the sun comes up Friday. The city of Tampa echoed the sentiment of officials from Naples north, saying "there are significant challenges" ahead and the recovery process "will be lengthy."

More than 100,000 Florida Power and Light customers in Charlotte, Collier, Lee, Manatee and Sarasota counties are without power, according to the company's outage map.