Polk County braced Friday for a direct hit from Hurricane Irma as emergency officials predicted massive power outages and 100-mph winds.

LAKELAND — Polk County braced Friday for a direct hit from Hurricane Irma as emergency officials predicted massive power outages and 100-mph winds.

After an afternoon hurricane update, Pete McNally, Polk County's emergency manager, said Polk residents should have a plan in place.

"It's not too late, but it's getting close to that point to have a plan in place about what you are going to do," McNally said.

From models and projections, McNally said, tropical storm-force winds should hit the southern portion of the county by Saturday evening. A hurricane watch was issued for Polk at 11:30 a.m. Friday.

By noon Sunday and into the night, sustained hurricane-force winds — possibly reaching 100 mph — are expected to reach Polk County, McNally said.

That means parts of Polk County could receive tropical storm-force winds or stronger for 48 hours.

"All day Sunday and a good part of Monday, we will be under tropical storm- and hurricane-force winds," McNally said from the Emergency Operations Center in Winter Haven.

McNally said officials are discussing post-impact plans.

Initially, workers will try to clear major roads, such as U.S. 27, South Florida Avenue and State Road 60. Workers typically begin cleanup when winds are below 45 mph.

McNally said many of those workers will be with utility crews.

Utility workers are preparing for one of the largest single outages in the county since the trio hurricanes of 2004.

That year, Hurricane Frances left 40,000 customers in Lakeland without power and Hurricane Charley devastated parts of East Polk County, such as Lake Wales and large sections of Winter Haven.

Lakeland Electric General Manager Joel Ivy said he's expecting 50,000 customers to be without power. The utility serves 125,000 customers.

Before Frances, Hurricane Charley left 30,000 Lakeland Electric customers without electricity.

Ivy said power should be returned to about 38,000 of those customers within three days. The others will take longer.

"The damage from trees is my biggest concern," Ivy said.

But he also cautioned that things could change.

"Right now it's all an assumption based on an unknown," Ivy said.

At Duke Energy, spokeswoman Ana Gibbs said 7,000 workers are ready to respond to outages. The company serves 100,000 customers in East Polk County, including residents in Haines City, Lake Wales, Davenport and other portions of unincorporated Polk.

Gibbs said it was too early to predict outages in the county or for its 1.8 million customers in 35 counties in Florida. During Hurricane Matthew last year, 300,000 Duke customers lost power. Gibbs said power was restored to those customers within 72 hours.

TECO Energy, which serves about 73,000 residential customers in Mulberry and the greater Winter Haven area, including Eagle Lake and Auburndale, said the utility is mobilizing crews and has more than 1,000 linemen from crews in neighboring states standing by in Florida to help restore power after the storm passes.

"We have folks on the way," TECO spokeswoman Cherie Jacobs said. "We're telling customers to anticipate being without power for several days."

She said TECO officials are preparing for a range of damage, given the breadth of the storm.

Jacobs said TECO is cautioning residents to remove materials from their yards, like lawn furniture, that could cause damage in high winds.

"The issue with wind events is debris," she said. "Trees falling on power lines or branches pulling the lines down. Even patio furniture flying into our equipment. Residents can help by clearing as much out of their yards as they can."

In Fort Meade and Bartow, which have their own electric utilities, managers echoed Jacobs' concerns.

Brad Hiers, interim director of Bartow's electric department, said crews have been preparing for Hurricane Irma since early in the week.

"What we learned from Charley was to be prepared," he said. "We have our inventory in, our trucks are stocked and we've made sure all of our saws are ready to go."

The city's electric department serves about 12,000 commercial and residential customers. Hiers said he expects many of them will lose power during the storm.

But he said he's confident the city has taken measures to hold that number down. Like Lakeland, Bartow has replaced power poles and upgraded transformer stations in the past decade.

"We've invested nearly $2 million in the system," he said, "and I think that's going to make a big difference for us."

Bartow has 14 linemen and another 14 support staff ready to begin assessing the damage at daybreak after the storm passes, he said.

"We'll probably be calling in additional crews from other areas if they're needed," he said. "Right now, there are still just so many unknowns."

Jackie Cannon, public works director in Fort Meade, said his three linemen are ready to face whatever Hurricane Irma throws at them.

"I think there's going to be quite a bit of damage," he said, "but we'll work through it."

John Chambliss can be reached at john.chambliss@theledger.com or 863-802-7588. Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070.