Over 12,000 Central Florida customers lose power after lightning strikes transmission system
Over 12,000 Central Florida residents were left in the dark Tuesday night after intense thunderstorms boomed through the area.
At around 7:30 p.m. residents in Leesburg and Fruitland experienced power outages after a lightning strike caused a fire to the Duke Energy east power substation on U.S. 441, the City of Leesburg said in a statement.
The damages left 12,600 residents without power, Leesburg said.
At around 10 p.m. Leesburg reported two of its three impacted stations were repaired and some residents had power restored.
However, many other residents spent the night in the dark and didn’t see the lights return until early Wednesday.
The outage had left intersections with operating traffic lights but Leesburg police arrived to direct the flow of traffic.
Tuesday’s intense lightning storms also affected residents of Lake Mary. About 7,000 customers were reported without power, according to Duke Energy.
As a result of Tuesday’s tumultuous weather, the Peppa Pig Theme Park is closed Wednesday due to some minor storm damage to a shade structure, according to a report by WKMG.
Wednesday is predicted to have another round of evening thunderstorms rolling into Central Florida, according to the National Weather Service.
“Gusty winds up to 55 mph, frequent lightning strikes, small hail, and torrential downpours are possible with the strongest storms,” the NWS said. “Move indoors if threatening weather approaches or if you hear thunder.
