MARK SCHUMANN

According to Vero Beach City Councilman, Randy Old, as of Sunday evening power was restored to all but approximately 500 customers of Vero Electric. Ted Fletcher, who heads the City’s electric utility, explained to Old that re-establishing power connections for the remaining 1 percent of the City’s 34,000 customers will be the hardest, and some may take until as late as Tuesday.  One crew of 9 worked four hours restoring power for one customer. Flether’s team is being aided by 103 line workers working from 6 a.m. until 10 p.m.

Restoring power to the Indian River Medical Center and to other medical and emergency related facilities was, Fletcher explained, was the top priority. From there, his team identified areas where power could be restored to the most customers in the least time.

According to Fletcher, during the 2004 hurricanes all 44 areas of Vero Electric power grid went dark, compared to 30 areas loosing power as a result of Hurricane Matthew. Fletcher attributed the difference to keeping trees trimmed farther from power lines between storms.  It takes no more than a tree limb caught by a strong gust of wind to cause a power disconnect. The City’s custom3er service center received some 15,000 calls since Hurricane Matthew skimmed the coastline, raking the city with wind gust of up to 75 miles.  The damage could have been far worse, had the storm not taken a 20-mile jog to the east. Weather forecasters explained that the north-to-south wind speeds in Vero Beach were further reduced when Hurricane Matthew picked up speed on its south-to-north march up Florida’s coastline.