OUC History Book

Page 47

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,

Page 43

encourage residential development.”


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