Log in | Register |
StormCenter logo

Archive

Day: September 2, 2016

SECO Recovers Quickly from Hurricane Hermine Pounding

Late Thursday night and early Friday morning, Hurricane Hermine pounded SECO’s service territory with buckets of rain and high winds as it sped toward the Florida Panhandle.  In addition to the storms, WESH Channel 2 advised at least one tornado touched down in Sumter County near Webster. This event began a series of weather-related outages for SECO Energy members in the storm’s path.

 

At the height of the high winds and rainfall, approximately 7,500 members were without power.  As of 8 a.m. on Friday, the outages were reduced to under 3,000 members out. As of 7 p.m. on Friday,  SECO has less than 100 members without power.
SECO Energy, SECO Territory Pounded by Hurricane Hermine
Hurricane Hermine brought damage across the state, including broken trees and utility poles, flooding, roadway debris and at least one death in Marion County. Earlier today, NBC News reported that more than 250,000 consumers across the state are without power. Fortunately, most SECO Energy members weren’t affected with power outages due to an expertly designed, soundly built and well maintained system whose reliability is enhanced by an aggressive vegetation management program.

 

Vice President of Corporate Communications & Energy Services Kathryn Gloria stated, “SECO continually maintains, inspects and upgrades its system to provide the most reliable power possible to our members.  SECO is Storm Ready – it prepared well in advance for the possibility of Hurricane Hermine and its impact on our service area.  SECO continued to update members this week about Hurricane Hermine’s projected path and status and warned members to be prepared for outages if the storm made landfall near our area.”

SECO Energy, SECO Territory Pounded by Hurricane Hermine, power line pole being replace after major damage.

 

Part of SECO’s strategy included pairing a tree trimming crew with a line crew during restoration. As of 7 p.m. on Friday, there were less than 100 SECO members whose service has yet to be restored.  SECO is continuing its emergency restoration plan until every member on the system is restored. SECO predicts the remainder of members’ service will be restored before midnight Friday – unless additional storms on the tail of Hurricane Hermine come into play.

 

As a not-for-profit electric cooperative, SECO is dedicated to being its members’ first source for storm information. “Like” SECO’s Facebook page and “follow” the company on Twitter for the latest news releases and cooperative updates.

Hurricane Hermine Wake and Restoration Process

Overnight, the SECO Energy system held up remarkably well given the high winds and rain that came in the wake of Hurricane Hermine.  At height of the Thursday overnight outages, about 7,500 members were without power. As of 8 am on Friday, about 3,000 members remain without power.

 

Employees worked throughout the night and field crews are performing under tough conditions. Fresh crews and tree trimmers stepped in this morning to relieve the overnight crews.

 

SECO expects severe weather throughout the day. Gusty winds up to 45 mph are forecast through 5 pm with periods of heavy rain and lightning at times.  The key component of the current outage equation is there are 170 individual outages affecting those 3,000 members.  That is a high number of individual outages, and some SECO members in less populated areas may need to prepare for a restoration effort that extends into the weekend

 

SYSTEM OPS UPDATE:

By-County Outages:

  • There are 1,125 without power in Marion County – largely in Blichton and Rainbow Lakes and Waterways Ocala.
  • There are only 127 members without power in Lake County.
  • Sumter County recovered well overnight after unofficial reports of tornados came with multiple outages. About 521 remain without power in Sumter County, mostly along the Highway 301 corridor north and south of Bushnell.
  • Hernando County (far north along the 301 corridor) has 15 without power.
  • 14 members are without power in Pasco County.
  • There are 99 members without power in Levy County.
  • Citrus County has 609 members without power – generally along Highway 41 and in Inverness. There are Citrus outage pockets on the north and south sides of Highway 44.

 

RESTORATION PROCESS:

Remember that bucket trucks and line work cannot withstand winds in excess of 35 mph – restoration work must be suspended in high winds.  SECO’s emergency restoration plan determines the system’s restoration priority of each affected feeder. Essential services such as shelters, hospitals, fire/law enforcement facilities, schools, and government agencies are the highest priority. Line repairs that will restore power to large groups of members are next, and then individual electric services in less populated areas.

 

If a member is unsure if SECO is aware of an outage, report it using your last name and house number on Storm Center.