About 1,700 residents in Summerfield, including parts of Stonecrest, were without power this morning after Hurricane Hermine came storming in Thursday night.
Another 800 on the Historic Side of The Villages and the Lakes of Lady Lake were also without power this morning.
Howling winds and tornado warnings preceded the arrival of Hurricane Hermine, the first hurricane to reach Florida in a decade.
Nearly a half million Floridians were under tornado warnings, including those in Sumter, Lake and Marion counties. A tornado watch continues until 8Â a.m.
While Sumter County and Lake County schools are closed today, the Villages Charter School remains open.
“We trust all families to make the decision to bring their children to school based upon the weather and road conditions in their area. Please contact your school if you have questions,” the Villages Charter School announced on its website.
Community Watch removed gate arms from entry and exit points. Gate attendants were removed with gates unattended. The District wanted to avoid backups at the gates if power was lost.
Lake County Emergency Management reports there were numerous calls for service for trees down, power lines down (primarily in the Lady Lake area) between 8 p.m. and midnight last night.
SECO Energy reported that at the height of the Thursday overnight outages, about 7,500 members were without power. Crews worked throughout the night in restoration mode. As of 6 a.m. Friday, 2,900 members remain without power.
About 776 remain without power in Sumter County, mostly along the Highway 301 corridor north and south of Bushnell.
SECO encouraged those experiencing outages to report them online, rather than remaining on hold on phonelines. To do so, go to http://www.secostormcenter.com/StormCenter.aspx
Duke Energy announced it has 1,200 utility workers in the field to deal with outages.
The governor increased to 51 the number of Florida counties under a state of emergency. Included in the state of emergency are Lake, Sumter and Marion counties.
The Thursday evening entertainment at the town squares was canceled, marking the third night in a row that entertainment had been canceled due to inclement weather. World of Beer in Spanish Springs closed at 7 p.m.
