Getting results ahead of hurricane season, Florida Power & Light says it's doing something new to protect your service.
News 6 rode along with FPL Thursday to check out a big step crews are taking to enhance a West Melbourne neighborhood's service and to be ready once severe weather comes.
Crews call it the "hardening" of their system.
"We're putting in stronger, more storm resistant poles that are able to withstand hurricane-force winds," said Bill Orlove with FPL.
A pole placed Thursday on Ranch Road is 55 feet high and weighs 9,000 pounds.
FPL says expect to see even more of these.
The state plans to replace 60 percent of its old-fashioned wooden poles by 2018.
Florida Power the past decade has spent $2 billion upgrading infrastructure.
"That's a lot of money all to make our grid stronger and smarter, and improve the reliability to our customers," said Art Macey with FPL.
"The issues that we had years ago, tree limbs, debris or trees themselves would go into our lines," said Orlove. "It wouldn't just bring down the powerlines but they would also bring down the poles."
The future of storm preparedness also includes new ways to observe damages.
FPL says their five drones can get to areas normally unreachable to boots on the ground or even other aircraft.
Crews called Thursday's exhibit a test run for whenever they're needed.
Also Thursday, hurricane researchers out of Colorado announced they're predicting a "near-average" upcoming hurricane season.
Researchers say they expect about 12 storms to be named.