Poorer areas have the longest power recovery times. Here’s how to make restoration less biased

One likely reason for this disparity is written into utilities’ standard storm recovery policies.

Hurricane Helene cut power to more than 4 million homes and businesses as it moved across the Southeast after hitting Florida’s Big Bend region as a powerful Category 4 storm on September 26. As Helene’s rains moved into the mountains, causing devastating flooding, officials warned that fixing downed utility lines and restoring power would take several days.