MAITLAND, Fla. – More than 100 Maitland residents lost power Thursday morning, adding to a growing list of outages that have plagued the neighborhood even during light rain conditions.
Sheri McGill was washing dishes at her Gillis Court home when she says she felt an electrical shock following a transformer malfunction.
“I was just washing dishes, and as soon as the transformer went boom, I started feeling dizzy,” McGill said. “The power went off, and it came through and hit me, and I was dizzy as a result, so that kind of freaked me out.”
Residents report multiple outages over recent months, with documented incidents on Aug. 20, Aug. 13, Aug. 5, and July 11. Duke Energy’s outage map showed 122 homes affected in Thursday’s incident.
Catherine Perrault, a mother of young children, including a 2-month-old infant, expressed concerns about the frequent disruptions.
“I thought it was lightning to be honest, but it was weird because the rain wasn’t that strong and there was no other lightning, just one pop,” Perrault said.
The recurring outages pose particular challenges for families with young children.
“When the power went out this summer, lots of worries about overheating in the middle of the night. You know, food, and especially for the baby, like breast milk thawing in our freezer,” Perrault added.
Duke Energy acknowledged the area’s multiple outages in recent months.
In a statement, the company said: “Duke Energy understands it provides an essential service, and we take that responsibility very seriously. This area has experienced multiple outages in the last few months associated with summer thunderstorms. We apologize for any inconvenience those outages may have caused. We conduct regular vegetation trimming to help reduce outages and will send crews to patrol for additional areas that need attention. Duke Energy wants to assure our customers that when storms strike, we are ready to respond and restore power as quickly and safely as possible.”
However, residents remain skeptical.
“We understand if it’s a hurricane or a limb falls off or something like that, you would expect it, but when it’s just medium to light rain with no lightning or anything? Like today, I was shocked that it went off,” McGill said.