Lightning strikes cause power outages

Navarre had approximately 250 lightning strikes in a one hour period on July 24 according to meteorologist John Werner with the National Weather Service Mobile.

The severe thunderstorm resulted in pockets of power outages for the Navarre area.

 “There were 115 people without power in Santa Rosa County,” said Gulf Power Corporation Communications Supervisor Jeff Rogers.

Rogers explained that Gulf Power could not isolate how many of those people were in Navarre, but he did say Gulf Power responded to several reports of power outages in the south end of the county.

He reported that residents that experienced power outages should have power restored within two hours.

 “The only thing that would take them longer is if a fuse blew or a transformer was damaged,” Rogers said, “Some outages only require the main switch to be reset, but if a fuse or transformer is damaged, it takes longer.”

This is the second severe thunderstorm system that produced a large number of lightning strikes. The last one occurred on July 6 during the early morning hours.

Werner reported that there is a 50 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms for Wednesday, July 25, and a 30 percent chance of afternoon thunderstorms for Thursday, July 26.