SECO Energy Infrastructure Damaged by Tornado
A strong, severe line of thunderstorms passed through SECO Energy’s Central Florida service area today. A tornado damaged some of SECO’s electric facilities but the SummerGlen substation’s critical infrastructure appears largely unscathed.
This powerful weather system knocked down poles and lines in the area causing outages for about 3,500 Marion County SECO members. The tornado was captured on video crossing over I75 near SECO Energy’s SummerGlen substation in southwest Marion County near County Road 484. The substation serves SECO members in the SummerGlen and Marion Oaks subdivisions and the surrounding area. There were no physical injuries reported from this morning’s torrential winds and rains.
Trucks owned by SECO’s tree trimming contractor Nelson Tree Service that are regularly staged at the SummerGlen substation sustained damage. A pickup was tossed nearly 100 feet and windows of larger vehicles were shattered by debris. The fence and much of the landscaping at the SummerGlen substation suffered damage and at least one home in the SummerGlen neighborhood sustained significant damage.
CEO Jim Duncan stated, “We are immensely grateful that no SECO employees, contractors or residents were injured during today’s severe weather. As soon as it was safe to do so, crews were dispatched to the area to begin the assessment and restoration effort. We are making good progress and should have all members’ service in southwest Marion County restored this evening.”
Crews are working to repair the damage near where the tornado touched down. Downed poles are being replaced as well as sections of downed lines. Stay away from downed lines; do not touch or approach as the line may still be energized. Warn children to never touch downed power lines.
Duncan continued, “Atlantic hurricane season begins on June 1 and our summer storm season seems to have arrived a little early this year. Now is a good time to enroll in surge protection and to update your contact information to receive proactive outage notifications through our StormCenter platform.”
Visit StormCenter and choose Manage Notifications to enroll in email, text or voice messages or all three.
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