On September 20, local restaurants and residents were carrying out their nightly activities when the lights suddenly went out; putting a halt to everything around 8 p.m. The power outage affected businesses on Tennessee St. and neighboring residences.
The unfortunate blackout caused restaurants and stores to release their patrons earlier than usual which meant less revenue for the night.
Brianna Carter, a Moe’s Southwest Grill employee, explained the experience that caused her night shift to end early.
“My manager told the customers that if the power doesn’t come back on in 5 minutes then they will have to leave, and that’s exactly what happened,” said Carter. “People were understanding for the most part. They just grabbed the to-go boxes and left.”
Many homes and nearby apartment complexes were also affected. Among those affected were residents of Aqua Palms Apartments.
Brian Young, a junior social work student at Florida A&M University, is one of the concerned Aqua Palms residents.
“As soon as it happened I got nervous because I had a lot of work to complete, and assignments that are due. I thought it was just going on in our apartment first… I stepped outside and realized that we weren’t the only ones without power,” said Young.
Many residents in the area were unaware of the reason behind the power outage until the City of Tallahassee (COT) updated their Twitter feed around 10 p.m.
Update: “A transformer is temporarily out of commission. Crews working diligently to isolate and resolve the issue,” COT posted.
Unfortunately, streetlights were also out of service and drivers had to direct themselves on darkened roads.
Later, the feed was updated again around 2 a.m. stating “Update: Power restored. If you’re w/out, pls report. Thx to the crews for their hard work & to customers for their patience.”
Fortunately, power was restored to mainly everyone and residents and businesses would have a normal day to follow.
For more information, visit www.talgov.com or follow @COTNews on Twitter.