Post Hurricane Milton Restoration Ongoing
SECO Energy continues its restoration effort after Hurricane Milton damaged its service area and left over 100,000 members without electric service. Though the cooperative has made strides in restoring service to almost 80,000 members, restoration is expected to last through the weekend and possibly early next week.
Crews have been continuing post-restoration efforts around the clock since early Thursday morning. SECO Energy has 300 additional crews joining the cooperative today as they were released from storm restoration in the Carolinas.
Progress Timeline:
- Over 100,000 or ~41% of SECO Energy’s 245,000 members experienced service interruption at the peak. Significant progress has been made in restoring power to affected members from the impact of Hurricane Milton, which made landfall near Siesta Key late Wednesday night.
- On Thursday, the team restored over 55,000 accounts, reducing the percentage of SECO members without power to 18%. As Florida requires, all hospitals, emergency shelters, assisted living facilities, and government entities that provide public assistance were restored first. All transmission lines, which tend to impact a very large number of members, were restored as well.
- On Friday, crews were able to reduce the percentage without power to less than 9% as approximately 23,000 more members’ service was restored in a concentrated effort in the Paisley area, St. John’s, Rainbow Lakes, Marion Oaks, Lake Panasoffkee, Citrus County, and south Lake County.
- On Saturday morning, work began to restore electric service to several more of SECO’s members. SECO has acquired additional crews to help accelerate restoration as we continue working in the most heavily damaged areas.
SECO Energy is asking members for patience in the extensive effort to bring all meters back online due to the extensive and widespread damage. Restoration and recovery in some communities is a long process due to the substantial number of outages caused by downed lines, broken poles, flooding, fallen trees, and other damage curtailing restoration work.
SECO understands that members with prolonged outages are frustrated. Crews will continue to work as quickly and safely as possible around the clock until service is restored to all members. SECO’s crews are pulled in many directions, so members may see crews leaving residential areas that are not yet completely restored. Homes in one subdivision on one side of the street may have power while the other side does not. This can occur when one line ends, and another line begins.
“As assessments continue, we’re seeing extraordinary damage to our system,” said Curtis Wynn, CEO of SECO Energy. “Hurricane Milton is proving to be one of the largest power restoration efforts in our history. While it will take several more days to fully repair and rebuild, we commit to getting the lights back on as quickly and safely as possible. We know this is a very difficult time for our members, and we thank them for their patience and understanding as we work around the clock to restore power as conditions permit.”
For outage reporting and updates, SECO Energy offers StormCenter, an outage and communications platform. Members can report outages, check the status of an outage, and sign up for alerts via email, text, or phone. Visit SECOEnergy.com > StormCenter and bookmark the page for quick access.
Members are reminded to stay safe and encouraged to adhere to the following safety tips, as conditions remain hazardous in many areas:
- Stay away from downed wires. Always assume they are energized. Call 911 if you see a downed line.
- Avoid flooded areas. Flooding is a major threat from Hurricane Milton. Flash flooding can occur suddenly due to intense rainfall. Long-term flooding along rivers and streams can persist for days following a storm. When approaching water on a roadway, remember: Don’t Drown. Turn Around.
- Avoid crews working in the street. This will keep you and the crews safe and allow them to work on restoring your power.
- If you or a loved one require electric service for life-sustaining medical equipment, have a backup power source, or plan to relocate.
- If you plan to use a portable generator, follow the manufacturer’s instructions and use it only when necessary. Don’t overload it. Be sure to turn it off at night when you’re asleep or if you leave your home.
- To avoid the risk of carbon monoxide poisoning, place portable generators outside in a well-ventilated area, more than 20 feet away from your home, doors, and windows. Never run a generator inside, not even in your garage. Do not connect the generator directly to your home’s main fuse box or circuit panel.
- Protect food and refrigerated medicine with ice in an insulated cooler. If you are without power for more than two hours, refrigerated foods should be placed in a cooler. Foods will stay frozen for 36 to 48 hours in a fully loaded freezer if the door remains closed, and a half-full freezer will generally keep frozen foods for up to 24 hours. Check foodsafety.gov to learn when to throw out or keep food after a power outage.
For more storm safety tips, visit Ready.gov or download the American Red Cross’s Emergency Severe Weather App by texting “GETEMERGENCY” to 90999.
