I'M IN S FL WITH NO POWER please read!!!

[Maraya1969]

Hi, I am at a Kinko's because my electricity is still not on. Normally I would not bitch because a hurricane just went though however I live in San Carlos Park which in in Fort Myers, Lee Country Florida and once again, we have no power and no one seeming to give a shit about it.

Last year it took 10 days to get power and it was a company from GEORGIA that finally got us up and running.

I was driving around the very large community which is San Carlos and noticed a sign "FPL HELP". There was a downed power line and FLP had not fixed it yet. When it was reported they said: "keep the children away" Then someone came by in a truck and said "no that's not a downed line" and LEFT.

The point is: if you live in Florida you have better not be in a blue collar area if you want the electric company to help you. I have not seen any FPL trucks anywhere in my area.

The people who are using generators are spending $30 and up per day in gas to power them.

I have called every official I can think of, (sitting in my running car since my electricity doesn't work in my house!) and NOTHING is being done. If you drive south, toward the eye of the hurricane they all have gotten their power on. They are also in very expensive communities and they experienced more damage from the storm.

My community had no big structural damage. Just a bunch of downed trees. It would not take much to get our power on. JUST A COUPLE TRUCKS OUT HERE FOR A FRIGGING CHANGE.

PLEASE KEEP THIS KICKED. People need to know what it is like in
South Florida when you are a working stiff.

I don't mean to sound "ungrateful" but this shit is getting really old. It is sooo obviously to me now how money, taxes and VOTES move the electric trucks - not need.

Maraya

[Jack_Dawson]

1. No A/C?

That's the most terrifying thing of all. What can we do to help?

[recoveringrepublican]

8. Luckily we are having cool weather, though to many Floridian, like me

it feels like it's freezing.

[The Witch]

2. kick!

hang in there!

[Larissa238]

3. I can relate(ish)

My boyfriend lives in a suburb of Miami (a poor area) and they are not expected to get power back for a while (Sunday at the earliest), while other people there alredy have power.

Sadly, that is the way things work here. If you have money, you are treated better than those who dont have money. I live in a poor part of Los Angeles, and God help us if there is a disaster. My plan is to go to my stepdads, who lives in the better part of the city (read:richer), and stay there.

[zalinda]

14. I know this is a last resort but,

what about setting up a group that will camp out in the rich areas? If enough of "those people" camped out, because at least they'll have light at night, the rich will pitch a fit to the higher ups. It may get the electricity up much faster.

zalinda

[Larissa238]

16. lol

Thats a good idea, but I have a feeling it wont work... I think they would just call the police and get kicked out.

[tsuki]

34. In Florida, that will get you arrested. This is the land of expensive

gated communities.

[donsu]

42. and if you are seen walking on foot down a road in rich area the cops

will stop and ask you why you are walking there.

Naples, Marco Island Bonita Beach have many gated communities.

[tsuki]

53. Florida is the poster state for the Haves/Have Nots. Gated

Communities are all over the Panhandle. Problem is, there is no place for workers to live. So they are bring in Guatemalans to work so the RW'ers can bitch about illegal immigration.

Rumor has it that the Guatemalans are living in the woods in trailors full of bunk beds and working for minimum, about 50-60 hours a week. We keep looking, but we can't find them.

[bluedog]

4. same thing as last year

power was our for 4 days here......the rich beachfront homes got their power on within hours of the outages.......company sid .they turn on where the most people are running on that line....and if you believe that..........theres a nice house with a seashore living room for sale.......

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

5. kick

My parents lived in Ft. Myers for several years. I feel for you.

[recoveringrepublican]

6. Sorry to hear this, I live in Tarpon and I know what you are talking about

Last year (during Jeanne I believe) a utility pole fell down, our electricity went out. Now I live in a small old house, but just a couple of house down where the gulf meets land are multi-million dollar houses. The storm wasn't even over yet and a new one was put up. My MIL live by the sponge docks, same thing, only about 45 minutes later their power was restored. However my friends up in Holiday went hours without power.

[KaryninMiami]

7. You are correct. Since you have no power, you've missed the images on t.v

of the people in North Miami and Broward County (many of whom are African American)waiting in line for water and ice for hours and hours. I have no idea what the status is of the hot food deliveries that were promised today by FEMA- my guess is this was mismanged as well..

By the way, in the neighborhoods shown on the local news (and on CNN), the reason the ice that had been promised yesterday never arrived at the distribution centers was due to a communications malfunction. The truth is that THEY WERE USING CELL PHONES which as we all know are not reliable during hurricanes! Didn't they learn anything from New Orleans?

Hope you get your power back soon! Stay Safe and know that many of your neighbors in Florida and around the country are sending our prayers and good wishes to you!

[Tace]

9. Power Could Be Out For A Month In Some Places, Officials Say

http://worldnewstrust.org/modules/AMS/article.php?storyid=1423

The jump link from WNT requires free registration, but WNT has the first few grafs of the story

[MaineDem]

10. My sister's in West Palm with the same problem

Hang in there.

[roguevalley]

11. I am so sorry, honey. I dread a big earthquake up here. I think these

people all, every last one, need turned out. NOW!

[Mend]

12. Sorry, not true....I live in an area with million dollar plus

homes near the beach and we aint got no stinking power.....my office in a very exclusive area in a big bank building....no power.

[TexasLady]

13. in central Tx, during the big tornado that hit Jarrel

before it hit there it hit us. The electric company came out, and told us(rural trailer park) that once WE got all the trees off of the power lines theyd restore service. We all pitched in at the park, and got all the trees off the houses, and the lines, and sure enough the bastards came out and turned it on. If I recall, it was about a week.

[SouthernDem2004]

15. Could be the feeder lines are damaged or worse. Here in Biloxi we

lost or lines PLUS our power plant. The plant is still not up.

Try putting it in perspective. Took longer here to get power. Some still do not have cable or telephone. It can even get worse then that. Heck, I would trade you problems in a heart beat.

[displacedtexan]

17. My husband only uses his title (Dr.) in situations like this...

or if we want to get a table at a restaurant.

People are intimidated by titles.

You can borrow my husband's to get your power back on!

Also, we have to tell Comcast that we're sure they'd get her quicker if we didn't live downtown. That works, too.

[gulfcoastliberal]

18. I've heard bad things about FPL - like rotten execs

Like they pay their CEO Lewis Hay III so much so they don't hire/staff enough linemen.

http://www.forbes.com/static/execpay2005/LIRPS40.html

edit:

Lewis Hay III's Compensation Vs. Utilities Medians
Salary ($thou) Lewis Hay IIIs Compensation 1,000 Utilities Industry CEO Compensation 971
Bonus ($thou) 1,520 1,021
Other ($thou) 3,824 842
Stock Gains ($thou) 0 85
Total Compensation ($thou) 6,344 3,440

2nd edit:

FPL Executives Got $60 Mln for Failed Entergy Buyout
http://www.vanderbilt.edu/radsafe/0104/msg00037.html

No wonder they suck.

[truthisfreedom]

19. anyone know if there's cabs running in Miami? my top employee is going on

her honeymoon, taking a cruise that heads out of Ft. Lauderdale, and she's flying into Miami and needs to get to the cruise... her friend in Miami isn't sure if he'll have enough gas to drive her there, and doesn't have enough time to sit in line to get more this week.

[RebelOne]

36. Maybe she can get her destination changed to the Ft. Lauderdale

airport. Because it is not that far from Port Everglades where I am sure her cruise ship will be leaving.

[Sequoia]

20. You're not ungrateful by any means.

Guess ole Jeb is on vacation from the looks of things. I hope you all get your electricity on very soon. This is really sad.

[Jacobin]

21. I didn't get power for 15 days after Rita

Cool your jets.

I was amazed at the power line workers.Thousands of them from all over the country working their asses off from seven in the morning until past dark.

There were a zillion trees splintering power lines in my town, and from the looks of it, you've got the same thing.

[HeeBGBz]

37. It was about 12 days for Katrina

The tree trucks had to go through and clear first before the power trucks started working.

I hope you get help soon, Maraya1969.

[The Backlash Cometh]

22. She's right. The blue collar areas will be the last to get their power up

The first, will be private streets that are paying premium for their electricity.

We're paying a lot of money for our private street lights and we got electricity up and running within two days of a hurricane that hit last year. Another area, close by, which was public and blue collar, had to wait a week, other areas waited longer and the utility company was very cold about it. They said if they want better service, they should move to private streets with private contracts for their utilities.

[GumboYaYa]

23. The aftermath can be worse than the storm.

After Andrew most of South LA was without power for up to 3 weeks. Some people still have no power after Katrina. Living a few days without power is not that great of a hardship. I know, I have done it several times after storms. Consider yourself lucky that it is not ninety degrees.

I honestly don't think that it has anything to do with affluence. Rather the power companies work from main lines to the more isolated lines.

[hootinholler]

27. Also more affluent communitites have underground power distribution.

Once the feed circuit is repaired the rest just lights up and they can cross off big sections from the repair list.

Just because a wire is on the ground, doesn't mean it's power. Power transmission generally uses thinner to the eye wires than phone or cable which use bundles of wires.

It is frustrating, but, there are still mutual aid linemen working on the gulf coast, which means there are fewer linemen to respond.

-Hoot

[wryter2000]

24. Kicked and nominated

:grouphug:

[AzDar]

25. Kick.

[The Doctor.]

26. Hey... has anyone heard from Mexicopat?

I haven't seen from her since last week when she was getting hit with a storm.
Have I just been on at the wrong times?

[annabanana]

39. not yet.. we're keeping her "candle" lit

We're on thread # 3
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=104x5144966

[The Doctor.]

45. Thank you. n/t

[mia]

28. I just got my power back.

I'm in Miami close to the airport and a major intersection that leads to it. The luxury condos across the street are still out.

I hope you get your power back soon.

[catzies]

29. My folks in Miami lost power for a week with Katrina and with Wilma 2 days

Hang in there :grouphug:

[Awsi Dooger]

30. My parents and other close relatives are in Miami with no power

The southwest suburbs. They are under 7 PM to 7 AM curfew. Pitch black at night, other than a few nearby homes with generators. At least the phone service didn't go out so I can contact them. I'm having to provide info to them from 2500 miles away, checking stuff on the internet. I was there for Katrina and helped clean up. My dad had open heart surgery 7 years ago and gets winded very easily. I'm really worried he'll try to do too much outside, picking up all the debris.

They don't live too far from Tropical Park, which was the major center for hundreds of FPL trucks to gather and be distributed post-Katrina, and also now. I'm hoping that the proximity will allow electricity to be turned on very soon, since Tropical Park becomes sort of a temporary village for all the workers and obviously they benefit from power being restored to nearby businesses and neighborhoods.

[Left Brain]

31. A FL resident phoned in to Ed Schultz today

and said he had been driving around affected areas all day long and hadn't seen even one FPL truck on the roads.

My husband used to contract powerline work for PGE during Oregon's infamous ice storms. During those times, it wasn't uncommon to see either a PGE truck or a contract truck every few blocks busily fixing downed lines, blown transformers, and the like the day after a storm.

Something smells rotten in the state of Florida.

[Awsi Dooger]

33. This hurricane was so huge the outages are everywhere

I'm sure the FPL trucks are out there en masse. When Katrina hit Miami I was there and the orange FPL trucks were swamping Bird Road in southwest Dade every night, going back to Tropical Park after 18 hour days. I saw literally hundreds of trucks lined up there.

Wilma took out power to 90+% of customers in Dade and Broward. Overall, more than 75% of FPL's 4.3 million customers statewide went out. I'm not trying to be an apologist for FPL but this situation is very unique in its scope. Andrew was an incredibly strong Category 5 hurricane, but tightly wound and therefore the damage grid was relatively small. South Dade County was wiped out but the center and northern sections of the county were mostly unscathed.

[Tuesday_Morning]

43. I've seen dozens of utility trucks today...

..just on my little jaunt to the grocery store. They're not FPL....they say "Pike". Out of state company, I guess. The power seems to be trickling back on.

A co-worker told me that as they fix stuff, some of the transformers have been blowing. Last night, North Miami Beach went out after having power all day.

[Awsi Dooger]

49. Same thing happened across the street from my parents

The neighbors across the street are on a different electrical grid. They had power restored this morning, but then a fire broke out and power was lost again for several hours before it was reparied.

Must be random restoration. After Katrina, my parents' grid was restored earlier than across the street. This time, it's opposite.

[sleipnir]

32. Sadly, the simple answer is, don't live in Hurricane-ville....

The same I'd say to anyone who lived were other major long-lasting storms are common, like ice and snow up north.

I DO strongly sympathize with you, don't get me wrong, but the easiest solution to this problem is to move to a place were you don't lose power for days on end each year. I can't remember the last time the power went out for more than 12 hours in my life, and I've lived in a lot of places. I can only imagine what it must be like to have no power for days...that's just not fun at all.

Stay safe and be strong.

[watercolors]

35. Saw several convoys of electrical trucks

heading south on I-95 yesterday. Took my mom back to Vero, we are in Cocoa. Traffic was very heavy with trucks and equipment. In Vero half of electricity was still out. My mom is lucky that her's was turned on tuesday PM. People there in long lines for gas and many looking for water and ice, not available, or could not find locations. We are in a nieghborhood that is severely flooded, but it is our locals who are doing a great job. We had 10-12 inches of water in a few hours, creek flooded, lake flooded and a very large area under water. This is not a flood zone either. Somewhat scary, we are high and dry, but we look like our home is on an island sitting in a lake. I worry where all the critters and snakes are going! Yesterday water did start to recide.Hope you get some help soon, last storm we were the last, 12 days, know how you feel!

[Tuesday_Morning]

38. Brickell, downtown Coconut Grove and Coral Gables

are all still without power, I think. They're all nice areas.

I had dinner in Coconut Grove last night. The restaurants are grilling food out on the sidewalk, offering two or three entrees. Tables with candles out there too. You could see the stars for a change.

Kinda nice. Like a glimpse of the positive side of post peak oil. We've been trading with neighbors - ice for a bottle of wine, water for printer paper. People working out logistical problems, helping each other.

[Pacifist Patriot]

40. As far north as Melbourne Beach/Indialantic is being told it

could be another week before they have power. WTF???

[Lowell]

41. To add insult to injury

these assclowns running FPL quit trimming branches from around their lines in a cost saving effort (not passed on to the consumer) several years ago. Last year here in St. Petersburg we went without electricity for over a week. Then the electric company requested and received a rate increase to recoop some of their losses. Florida Public Service Commission is nothing more than a rubber stamp for the utilities in this state. If the sorry ass electric companies had been maintaining THEIR equipment and lines there wouldn't have been so much damage.

Hang in there Maraya, you are not alone. Everyone who depends on the Florida electric utilities knows what you are going through. Good luck.

[bluedog]

44. I remember that one

when a crew finally showed up they were from North Carolina.....I talked to them for a bit and they asked if our power company ever kept the trees trimmed........

I told them in the 11 years I lived in this house I had never seen that happen...........before we lived in Bonnie Bay Pinellas park and all the power and cable were buried under ground......never had a problem with power outages.......


was wondering why....when lines go down they don't bury them and florida power said it would be too expensive.....well considering hurricanes every year and the man power and money spent to repair these lines.....the money would be wisely spent to bury a bit at a time......
that would be worth an extra $2.00 on my bill anyways.

[Lowell]

47. Amen to that

Two buck would be worth it. They should require that any new developments have the lines buried instead of just doing it on the cheap.

[Catchawave]

46. Broward News Releases here:

http://bcegov2.broward.org/newsrelease/newsrelease.asp

Hope this helps you find you find your county's news releases too :hi:

[Davis_X_Machina]

48. Sad to hear it...

...but not surprised. This time frame seems about the norm for big storms.

We were without power for 11 days in January of '98, after the big ice storm. No heat, except for a fireplace, and no water, except what we brought in in 5 gallon buckets (the well pump is electric.) Some nice utility workers from the Roanaoke area of Virginia got us back up.

[Zing Zing Zingbah]

54. That ice storm was nasty.

I knew plenty of people who went without power for a month, which is just dreadful in the middle of the winter.

I'm in Orlando right now, but I'm going to be moving back to Maine in a week or less. I can't wait!!!!

[lonestarnot]

50. Why isn't that sonofabitch Jeb out there hook'n up power lines?

[walldude]

51. My mom is in Lauderdale and my Sister in WPB

both still have no power... Guess Jeb ain't so big after all.

[karlrschneider]

52. Coincidence...just got off the phone with my partner's mom in Ft Myers

She has no power (lives east of town on the Orange river) but does have a generator, is running it 8 to 10 hours a day for the freezer & some TV but having trouble finding gas to run it, and paying $2.75 a gallon when it's findable. There doesn't seem to be a lot of national news about this...
:eyes: