Floridians endure in the heat for power knocked out by Ian
BONITA SPRINGS, FLA. — Hurricane Ian may be long gone from Florida, but the job of restoring power and searching for anyone still inside flooded or damaged homes pressed on Tuesday.
The number of storm-related deaths has risen in recent days because of the dangers posed by cleaning up and as search and rescue crews comb through some of the hardest-hit areas of Florida. Officials said that as of Monday, more than 2,350 people had been rescued throughout the state.
At least 79 people have been confirmed dead from the storm: 71 in Florida, five in North Carolina and three in Cuba since Ian made landfall on the Caribbean island Sept. 27, a day before it reached Florida. After churning northeastward through the Sunshine State and moving out into the Atlantic, the hurricane made another landfall in South Carolina before pushing into the mid-Atlantic states.
There have been deaths in vehicle wrecks, drownings and accidents. A man drowned after becoming trapped under a vehicle. Another got trapped trying to climb through a window. And a woman died when a gust of wind knocked her off her porch as she was smoking a cigarette as the storm was approaching, authorities said.
In hardest hit Lee County, Florida, most of the 45 people killed by the hurricane were over 50.
As floodwaters begin to recede, power restoration has become job one.
In Naples, Kelly Sedgwick was just seeing news footage Monday of the devastation Ian had caused, thanks to power that was restored four days after the hurricane slammed into her Gulf Coast community of roughly 22,000 people. She said she was “relieved” to have her power back and praised the crews for their hard work: “They’ve done a remarkable job.”
A few miles north along the coast in Bonita Springs, Catalina Mejilla’s family wasn’t as lucky. She was still using a borrowed generator to try to keep her kids and their grandfather cool amid the temperatures in the typically humid area that reached the upper 80s.
“The heat is unbearable,” Mejilla said. “When there’s no power ... we can’t make food, we don’t have gas.” Her mother has trouble breathing and had to go to a friend’s house that had electricity. “I think they should give power to the people who are most in need.”
Ian knocked out power to 2.6 million customers across Florida after it roared ashore with 150 mph winds and a powerful storm surge.
Since then, crews have been feverishly working to restore electricity infrastructure. State officials said they expect power to be restored by Sunday to customers whose power lines and other electric infrastructure is still intact.
About 430,000 homes and businesses in Florida were still without power early Tuesday.
Eric Silagy, Chairman and CEO of Florida Power & Light — the largest power provider in the state — said he understands the frustration and that 21,000 utility workers from 30 states are working as hard as they can to restore power as quickly as possible. The utility expects to have power restored to 95% of its service areas by the end of the day Friday, he said.