Florida Keys briefly without power after sailboat hits power line, officials say

Keys Energy Service said Tuesday that all their customers were without power after a sailboat knocked down a power line. (iStock)

Thousands of people in the Florida Keys were briefly without power on Tuesday after a sailboat knocked down a power line.

Keys Energy Services said that all of its customers were without power around 5 p.m. ET. The company, according to its website, has more than 28,000 customers and serves the Lower Florida Keys from Key West to the Seven Mile Bridge.

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The company said in a Facebook post that a sailboat struck a power line roughly 12 miles south of Tavernier, which is on Key Largo, the Keys' largest island.

Around 7 p.m., the company posted a photo of the sailboat "that triggered the systemwide outage."

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The company states online that they import "nearly all of its power supply and uses local generation for emergency back-up only." The company "relies on power from the mainland because it is far less expensive than local generation."

As of 6:47 p.m., "the boat was cleared from the lines and power restored to all affected customers," officials said.