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Power lines and trees have caused major outages across North Florida. (COURTESY SUWANNEE VALLEY ELECTRIC)
With nearly all of its 28,500 consumers still without power, Suwannee Valley Electric Cooperative said it could be a couple of weeks until the lights are back on.
The co-op said Thursday morning its crews and contractors continue to work with emergency management, sheriff’s offices and road departments to attempt to remove trees and power lines from roadways.
In a release, SVEC also said eight transmission lines from Duke Energy that serves the co-op’s substations are still inoperable.
“We are experiencing very high call volume and longer wait times for callers,” Director of Member Services John Robinson said in a release. “We thank our members for their patience as we all work though this difficult time and would like people to know that while we are now aware of all outages, our member service representatives are not able to provide estimated restoration times for individual locations.”
In the release, SVEC said it wants consumers to prepare to be without power for up to two weeks due to the damage to its system.
In Live Oak, Walmart, the Quality Inn, Zaxby’s, Moe’s, the Fusion Buffet, Subway and Beef O’Brady’s should have power fed by a generator operated by SVE, the co-op said in the release.
Nearly 200 lineworkers and vegetation clearers from SVEC and contractors fanned out across SVEC’s service territory at first light Thursday to begin the process of restoring power. An additional 104 lineworkers are due to arrive today from electric cooperatives in Alabama, Mississippi and Florida.
Personnel from Storm Services worked through the night to assemble a base camp for food and housing accommodations at SVEC’s campus in Live Oak. It’s expected that 350 people will be fed and 150 will sleep at base camp tonight.
CLAY EXPECTS TO HAVE TIMEFRAME TODAY
Clay Electric Cooperative said Thursday morning that it expects to have a better idea when it’s nearly 18,000 consumers without power will have service restored.
In a statement Thursday morning, Clay said additional crews are assisting in restoration efforts in the Lake City district.