Nearly 3,600 SECO Energy customers served by the Lake Ella substation experienced an outage Saturday afternoon.
Crews were immediately dispatched and all but 40 members closest to the isolated apparent cause had been restored as of Saturday evening.
Among those impacted was the 4 p.m. Saturday service at Hope Lutheran Church in The Villages. Because the church was without power, a shortened, “unplugged” service was offered so the congregation could safely leave before darkness arrived.
The problem appeared to be an underground cable failure, according to SECO.
