ORLANDO, Fla. -- Utilities statewide are reporting mass power outages across Florida. In Central Florida, Florida Power & Light and the Orlando Utilities Commission have confirmed outages in Brevard, Lake, Orange, Osceola and Volusia Counties. Images from Miami show people milling around sidewalks, outside buildings that have no power. An FP & L spokesperson says the blackout is not weather-related and was working to get more information. There are reports that eight power plants went off-line. Some began coming back online by about 2:30p.m. Miami-Dade County Emergency management coordinator Frank Reddish says the outages appear to be concentrated in the southeast portion of the state. The outages began shortly after 1p.m. Eastern time. Reports to the Eyewitness News newsroom say power was off in parts of the downtown Orlando area for approximately 20 minutes Tuesday afternoon at about 1p.m. before coming back on. Winter Park officials say they went dark but power has since returned. Orange County Fire and Rescue reported outages from the Disneyworld complex north to Apopka. Police are directing traffic in intersections in Daytona Beach where traffic lights have stopped functioning. In Orlando, police say about 15 intersections are dark. At Orlando International Airport, a combination of the power outage and weather stopped departures between about 1p.m and 2p.m. The delay backed up about 30 flights. An official at the Miami International Airport says the facility is working on a generator backup but that no airline delays were reported. The Florida Institute of Technology cancelled Tuesday afternoon and evening classes. By 2 p.m., most of northern downtown Miami appeared to be back to normal operation, including a campus of Miami-Dade Community College and numerous stores and businesses. Traffic lights were out for a short time but appeared to be back in regular operation. The U.S. courthouse complex, which includes a federal prison, experienced only a brief outage and is equipped with backup generators to keep the power flowing, officials said.
