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2021
SECONEWS T h e 2 0 2 1 A t l a n t i c mid-November was the only named storm that hurricane season began directly affected SECO’s service area last year. June 1. SECO Energy One tropical storm or hurricane spinning through uses a unique and welltested response plan that our service area is all it takes to make this a memorable stands ready when typical season for SECO Energy members and employees. afternoon thunderstorms Part of storm readiness is our commitment to storm occur and when our service hardening our electrical system – valued at about area is affected by tropical $1 billion. Annually, we replace aging distribution storms or hurricanes. SECO poles and install concrete transmission poles to is StormReady, and I urge you and your family to replace older wooden poles. Our robust vegetation management program also plays prepare proactively for hurricane a key storm readiness role with a season. IF YOU OR A FAMILY goal of trimming vegetation back MEMBER RELY ON LIFEfrom the entire 12,000 miles of All signs point to the potential for SUSTAINING MEDICAL overhead line systemwide every a very active hurricane season this year. In April, The Department of 551404 EQUIPMENT AND CANNOT five years. Atmospheric Science at Colorado BE WITHOUT POWER If you or a family member State University (CSU) published FOR AN EXTENDED TIME, rely on life-sustaining medical its Atlantic hurricane season equipment and cannot be forecast. CSU predicts that this YOUR HOME SHOULD without power for an extended year’s Atlantic hurricane season HAVE A SECONDARY time, your home should have will have above-normal activity. BACKUP POWER SOURCE a secondary backup power source available. You may need These experts predict there will AVAILABLE. to relocate to a shelter to wait be a total of seventeen named out the storm in the event of an storms. Eight of these will develop into hurricanes and four of these will become major outage. As a start, register with the Florida Special Needs Registry at www.FloridaDisaster.org that hurricanes (Category 3, 4 and 5). provides local first responders with information Compared to the historical record between 1991 about your needs. and 2020, the projections for this year are higher than average. During this period, the Atlantic hurricane Continued on page 2 season averaged fourteen named storms. Seven of these became hurricanes, with three developing INSIDE THIS ISSUE into major hurricanes. • 2021 Youth Scholarship Awardees An above-average activity hurricane season was predicted for last year as well. The 2020 season broke records with thirty named storms. Frankly, we were extremely lucky that these storms veered away from Central Florida. Tropical Storm Eta in
• Safety Corner • Winners’ Circle Hurricane Handbook • •Florida Fauna & Flora JUNE 2021 | SECO NEWS
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