Residents of Lake County, Florida, found themselves facing unexpectedly harsh weather conditions on Thursday, as icy temperatures and powerful winds swept through the area. The severe weather led to power outages and necessitated the opening of cold weather shelters for those in need of warmth and protection from the biting cold.

Power interruptions were reported by Duke Energy, who attributed the scattered outages to debris brought down by the gusty winds. For many, the timing of these outages was far from ideal, coinciding with the drop in temperatures.

Among those affected was Scott Simons, a resident of Mount Dora, who experienced a power cut shortly after 1 p.m. as he was preparing lunch in his home on South Clayton Street.

“I was just about to put some lunch in the microwave when everything went dark,” Simons recounted, describing the scene outside his window where debris littered his driveway and trees swayed precariously. Duke Energy later confirmed that the debris was indeed responsible for the power loss.

He described strong winds at the time of the outage, saying debris was falling in his driveway and trees were swaying back and forth. Duke Energy later confirmed falling debris caused the outage.

Simons said he was fortunate to have recently installed a generator at his home, which helped him get through the outage during the cold weather.

“They just hooked it up and tested it two days ago, and this morning the county came and did the inspection,” Simons said. “The same day of the inspection, the power goes out.”

As temperatures are expected to dip into the 20s and 30s through Friday, warming centers have opened across the county to provide shelter.

Lifepoint Church in Eustis activated its cold weather shelter Thursday night after being contacted by the Lake County Office of Emergency Management, according to shelter manager Alex Puig.

“This is us looking out for the community,” Puig said. “People can come in here and eat.”

Puig said residents may seek shelter for several reasons, including power outages or electrical system failures.

“A power outage. A failed electrical system. Anything could affect someone’s household,” he said.

Lifepoint Church plans to open its cold weather shelter nightly through Monday.