Blown transformer leads to outages

+ Blown transformer leads to outages
Lightning caused a transformer to blow late Saturday night, leading to power outages the next morning for several businesses at the Centre Shops of Longboat Key.

Florida Power & Light repaired the transformer around 10 a.m. the next morning, and though most of the shops in the area aren’t open on Sundays, Blue Dolphin Café owner Rob Ball was unable to serve breakfast and lunch crowds Sunday because of the loss of power.

Ball said his business’s computer systems and air conditioning was affected by the outage, although he never lost power to his refrigerators.

Lazy Lobster owner Michael Garey was also affected, however, he was able to open for business as usual at 11:30 a.m.

He said the Lazy Lobster’s air conditioning, refrigeration, hood fans and lobster steamers weren’t working when he came in that morning to open.

“When I came in Sunday morning I had no clue what happened,” Garey said. “It was a minor inconvenience for us but nothing major.”