NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- Saturday's fast moving thunderstorm left 14,850 customers in the dark, said an official with the Utilities Commission of New Smyrna Beach.
"Initially, when the transmission line tripped, there were approximately 14,500 customers affected," said Debra Simmons, executive administrator in public records for the UC said in an e-mail to Headline Surfer this afternoon.
"Subsequent to the restoration of that transmission line (approx. 20 minutes...), there were four other areas that experienced outages for another 3 to 4 hours due to a downed tree limbs, blown fuses, etc.," Simmons said. "These outages affected approximately 350 customers total (75, 50, 50, and 150)."
The storm passed through the city at 7:30 p.m. with several lightning strikes knocking out the power. The information on the number of affected customers and how long they were without power was slow coming from the UC, despite calls and e-mails today and over the weekend.
Simmons did not have a reason why it took so long to get basic information or why the UC's website had conflicting information about the outage.