1990–2010 PUTTING RELIABILITY TO THE TEST Helping Victims of Hurricane Andrew. During
Saturday, March 13, the “Storm
the 1990s, Mother Nature was on the warpath. In the
of the Century” brought 18
summer of 1992, Hurricane Andrew — one of the
hours of near-hurricane strength
deadliest, costliest and most devastating storms in
gusts, causing outages as fast
U.S. history — ravaged South
as OUC employees restored
Florida. In the face of that
service. Nearly 30,000
emergency, OUC and its
customers lost power, but by
employees responded quickly.
midday Sunday, service was fully restored.
Within two days, volunteers
Swift Response to Erin’s Fury. In the early morning
had filled 10,000 one-gallon
hours of August 2, 1995, Hurricane Erin roared through
bottles of pure OUC water
Florida, creating a level of service interruption that
and sent them to the disaster
eclipsed both the Christmas freeze of 1989 and the 1993
area. A week later, nearly
“Storm of the Century.” While no damage was done to
60 linemen, engineers and
any OUC generation or transmission facilities, Erin’s
other workers were
90-mph winds knocked out power to 37 main distribution
dispatched south to help the City of Homestead
feeders — and 52,500 OUC customers experienced
rebuild its electric system.
some interruption in service in the wake of the storm.
The Storm of the Century. In March 1993, a rare, severe wind storm struck much of Florida. Blasting
Erin’s impact was greater than the total average outage time experienced in the previous four years.
Orlando with 62-mile-per-hour winds at 12:30 a.m.,
Fueling Growth: OUC Expands Service Area to Include Lake Nona In 1994 and 1995, OUC expanded its water
by about 20 square miles. Initially, the impact was
such as those in Lake Nona, to the community.
and electric service area to include the new
small — adding just 73 new water customers and
Then Orlando Mayor Glenda E. Hood said,
Lake Nona community. The area located
287 electric customers. However, the potential
“As Orlando continues to compete both
southeast of the Orlando International Airport
was tremendous, and the gamble wound up paying
domestically and internationally for business,
was slated to become a major center for
off. As a result of the agreement, OUC gained a
a strong, financially sound and well-positioned
economic development in the region.
community that would become home to a Medical
utility is vital for economic development. You
In 1994, OUC and Orange County signed a new
City housing the University of Central Florida
cannot have growth without a utility that can
25-year territorial agreement for a 30-square-mile
Medical School, Burnham Institute, Veterans
provide reliable electricity, quality water and
area at Lake Nona. Then in 1995, OUC and Florida
Hospital and Nemours Children’s Hospital.
competitive rates to attract industry and
Power Corp. signed a new 10-year territorial agreement that expanded the electric service area
OUC’s reputation was critical to the City of Orlando’s ability to attract new businesses,
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encourage residential development.”