Outages, coal plant flooding top concerns as utilities brace for Hurricane Florence

Utility Dive: U.S. utilities are bracing themselves for another round of powerful storms after a record season in 2017.

Last year, Hurricane Harvey cost utilities in the Gulf Coast region around $520 million in damage, and weather events as a whole cost U.S. utilities $306 billion, the highest figure ever recorded by the federal government.

Experts say the more powerful and frequent storms are fueled in part by a warming climate. Repairs to Puerto Rico's electric grid in the wake of Hurricane Maria are expected to take years, and Hurricane Isaac is expected to slide just south of the island this week.

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