MIAMI -- A massive power outage throughout Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties Tuesday afternoon affected up to 1 million customers across Florida, according to Florida Power and Light.

A spokesman from FPL said the problem began at 1 p.m. Tuesday after an equipment failure in West Miami Dade at the Flagami substation at Flagler Street and 87th Avenue.

Armando Olivera said there was a problem with a disconnect switch.

"Under normal circumstances, an equipment failure like this does not cause the extensive outage that it did. That is what we are still trying to understand," said Olivera.

Olivera said there was also a piece of equipment that caught fire at the Flagami substation. The fire did not cause the outage itself, but it did occur at the same substation. FPL said the fire was safely extinguished.

Approximately 1 million customers across the state of Florida lost power and half of those were FPL customers. Only about 8,000 customers remained without power as of 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, but FPL said those outages were most likely weather related.

According to FPL, 196,430 customers in Miami-Dade and Broward County were affected, while 168,727 were without power in West Palm Beach. In Daytona, FPL said 18,866 customers were without power, and 90,977 FPL customers on the west coast of Florida suffered power failures.

"We don't know exactly what failed at the substation," said Althea Player, area manager at FPL.

Nuclear Reactors Shut Down

Florida's largest electric company said that it shut down a nuclear reactor at Turkey Point, south of Miami, for safety reasons. The Nuclear Regulatory Commission said that the two Florida Power and Light nuclear reactors at its Turkey Point power plant 30 miles south of Miami automatically shut down. "The electrical system performed as it should have and as it is supposed to during a situation like this," said Player. "When a failure occurs, the system trips to protect it."

The Turkey Point facility shut down at 1:09 p.m., said Roger Hanna of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission.

Hanna said both reactors at Turkey Point shut down. The plants are designed with a fail safe that looks at the grid and monitors the voltage. Whenever there is low voltage, the facility automatically shuts down in case there is a power loss at the plant.

"In this case it shut down exactly as it was supposed to and they did not lose power at the plant," said Olivera.

Flooded With Calls

Police and fire-rescue offices told Local 10 that they were flooded with telephone calls from people at schools, hospitals, offices and residences, complaining of loss of power with the first calls coming in shortly after 1 p.m.

Among the areas where outages were reported were Boca Raton, Kendall, Westchester, Doral and the Falls shopping center. There were reports that the Falls was evacuated.

Miami-Dade County's Emergency Operations Center (EOC) was being activated and was operating at Level 2, Local 10 reported. Broward County said they were not going to activate its EOC.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Carlos Alvarez urged people to call 311 for information rather than 911. That number should only be used in emergencies, he said.

Alvarez also said there was "no foul play or criminal activity" suspected in the shutdown of the reactors or in regards to the outage.

In South Florida, nine traffic accidents were reported in Miami-Dade County within the first half hour of the outage. Police agencies dispatched officers to many intersections. In Broward County, 60 intersections were affected.

Schools Dismissal Issues

The Archdiocese of Miami told parents to pick up children at the schools because bus transportation was not going to be provided because of traffic conditions.

Miami-Dade County public schools began dismissing students around 3 p.m. although officials said after-school activities had been canceled.

In Broward County, only four public schools were without power.

Confusion On The Streets

Local 10's Mark Joyella said he had seen several traffic crashes as a result of the outage. Local 10's Roger Lohse said 60 intersections were affected at one time in Broward County.

Local 10's Rad Berky said there was no power near the Palmetto Expressway.

Power outages have also been reported in Orlando and portions of southwest Florida.

The last major power outage to affect South Florida was after Hurricane Wilma in 2005, when about 6 million FPL customers were without power, some for as many as 20 days.

In 1985, there was also a widespread power outage throughout South Florida because of fires in the Everglades.