Collision causes Marco power outage

Service restored within 30 minutes to most of the 18,000 affected

By Elysa Batista (Contact)

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Marco Island residents had to do without air conditioning for 30 minutes Monday and had to boil their water before drinking it after a truck hit a utility pole, causing an islandwide power outage.

Roughly 18,000 people were affected by the outage and city officials had to impose a boil water order for all residents on the island after mechanical problems at Marco's water treatment plant were further complicated by the power failure.

"Water treatment plant mechanical malfunctions and (Monday) morning's power outage has caused water production problems," said city spokeswoman Lisa Douglass, via the city's CodeRED system.

"The turbidity or cloudiness in the water has increased. While turbidity has no health effects, we are required to issue a boil water notice for all water customers."

While power was restored, the boil water notice will remain in effect until further notice.

Douglass said the city was working to repair the problems with the plant's lime reactor and that after the repairs are completed, Marco Island Utilities will collect and analyze water samples for two consecutive days throughout the distribution system for bacteria.

Since the Marco Island public drinking water system also provides drinking water to the Goodland Water District, those residents should also boil their water, said Douglass.

The culprit for the power outage was "a large crane that was going into the back of the water company," said Marco Island police Capt. Thomas Carr.

Carr said that somehow the driver tangled the crane with the pole around 11:15 a.m.

"I was told the top third of the pole came off," he said.

A crew from Lee County Electric Cooperative (LCEC), the electric utility for the island, arrived at the scene shortly thereafter.

"We were staring to get electricity back right away," Carr said. "These guys are good."

LCEC spokeswoman Nancy McCarthy said that most of the affected residents had their power restored by 11:30.

"As soon as we received the outage call we dispatched the crew," said McCarthy.

LCEC serves more than 190,000 customers in five counties. Its main areas are Marco, Cape Coral, North Fort Myers, Sanibel and Captiva Islands, Pine Island, Everglades City, Immokalee, and parts of Lehigh Acres.

Once the repair crews were out, power began to be progressively restored to islanders.

Marco City Council Chairwoman Terri DiSciullo said the power blackout lasted less than 20 minutes at her home.

"LCEC had a quick response," she said. "We are very lucky to have them."

However, over at the Olde Marco Inn and Suites the outage seemed more like hours.

"We were affected pretty bad," said Mario Lemus, front desk representative at the Marco Inn.

Lemus said the lack of electricity made business difficult because the hotel is dependent on its computer system for all the guests' needs and reservations.

"It took between 20 minutes to half an hour to get power back. That's a lot of money lost," he said.

For more information on the outage and boil water order, call (239) 394-3353 or (239) 825-9004.