DARK, HOT, POWERLESS
FPL promises relief within a few days
Power to all but the unluckiest few will be restored by the time the weekend is over. Florida Power & Light Co. made the bold promise Tuesday, leaving enough wiggle room to concede it may take a little longer for homes and businesses affected by tornadoes, flooding and other “severe damage.”
While pointing out that 2.3 million out of 5 million outages have already been restored by a force of 20,000 workers operating throughout the state, FPL spokesman Rob Gould said officials are aware how difficult it is for those who remain without power.
“We understand what it means to be in the dark, what it means to be hot and without air conditioning,” he said. “We want to get the lights back on as fast as possible.”
For more than half of South Florida, coping without power for a third straight day posed challenges ranging from trying to keep kids entertained without electronics to more dire risks associated with routine medical treatment intended to avoid emergencies.
If they could, they sought refuge at the beach, in bars and shopping plazas — or just in the shade.
At the Praxis apartment complex in Deerfield Beach, Nancy Biglin, 83, and her 14-year-old pug Tootsie struggled to climb the stairs to Biglin’s fourth-floor apartment.
The elevator wasn’t working because the power still was out. Praxis, a 55-plus complex, has no back-up generator, despite the fact that many of its residents are disabled, infirm and on limited incomes.
The smelly concrete stairwell, with missing windows that had let in Irma’s rains, was stifling. Biglin and Tootsie both had to stop at every landing.
“It’s going to kill my dog, going up and down the stairs,” said Biglin, breathing heavily. She has had heart surgery and walking is difficult.
She and other residents were flattened when they heard FPL had said Sunday was the target date for full power restoration.
“We can’t wait until then,” said Biglin. “We’ll all be dead.”
The concern was similar at Century Village in Pembroke Pines.
“There’s no water for quite a while and no airconditioning,” said resident Seymour Blyman, 90. “There’s some very old people, including myself, who can hardly breathe in the apartments here.”
Blyman said he was reluctant to call for medical emergency assistance and hoped that FPL’s restoration priority list would deliver relief soon to the retirement community.
“They have a priority for hospitals first. These people in Century Village should be right after the hospitals,” he said. “I’m very weak, very tired. I can’t wait to get back to myself, and I don’t want to go to the hospital.
“If I get some air I’ll feel better.”
Non-emergency medical calls should be directed at 311, said Candy Sims, spokeswoman for the Florida Department of Health in Broward County.
Between Monday morning and Tuesday evening, FPL had restored power to 165,190 customers in Palm Beach, 189,960 in Broward and 191,380 in Miami-Dade — little comfort to the 1.4 million customers who were still waiting for the lights, air conditioners, televisions, internet and water heaters to kick back on.
For many, patience was a luxury in which they chose not to indulge.
“FPL, you have failed,” Delray Beach lawyer Jeff Kasky wrote on his Facebook page. Kasky complained that the power company told residents all day Monday not to report outages, only to reverse itself Tuesday and re-report the outage. When he tried to tell FPL he was still without power, he was unsuccessful using the company’s app, website and telephone hotline.
“I respect the fact that they’re out there working hard, but they were unprepared if, after two days, they’re telling me to re-report my outage, but they have no way of taking that report!” he said.
Mark Joseph, 60, of Tamarac, said he was frustrated to see nearby businesses like McDonald’s with their power restored. “Are they more important than people’s homes?” he asked.
Joseph’s 267-home community, Tamarac Lakes South, saw its power go out Sunday morning, come back Monday night and go out again Tuesday morning. He was unimpressed with FPL’s promise to bring power back by Sunday night.
“Five more days for people to sit and swelter?” he said. “Why did we give them all that money to upgrade the system after Hurricane Wilma [in 2005] only to have it fail when we needed it? They’d better not come around asking for more.”
Relief can’t come soon enough for Sharon Wilson, who returned home from work as a paramedic to her Davie condo on Tuesday. Fifteen minutes later, she left the stifling heat of her powerless home and headed to the Sawgrass Mills mall.
“I’d rather be at work with electricity, air conditioning and food,” Wilson said while her phone charged at a nearby electrical outlet. “It’s very inconvenient, very annoying.”
Two days after Nicole Fernandez lost power, the Sunrise woman’s patience was shot, and she and her husband headed to Sawgrass Mills to recharge their phones and search for food. “I couldn’t take it,” Martinez said. “It’s very, very hot; so humid.”
Sawgrass Mills was one of several malls to reopen Tuesday. The Aventura Mall in north Miami-Dade, Galleria mall in Fort Lauderdale, and the Mizner Park shopping center in Boca Raton all opened for business, providing climate-controlled refuge for the weary.
Broward Mayor Barbara Sharief said in a news conference Tuesday that “about half” of all traffic intersections remained without power, and to be careful while navigating the debris-strewn roads.
The advice led Pompano Beach resident Angie Martinez, who lost power Sunday morning, to stay home, where she dragged backyard sprinklers to her semishaded front yard and switched the water on full blast for her twin boys, 6-year-old Osiris and Odin.
She also laid out blankets in the shade and encouraged them to read a book. In between, the family is taking sporadic respite in their car to blast the air conditioning.
“It’s the only thing keeping us sane,” she said.
Jerry Schepps, who lost power in his Coral Springs home Sunday night, has tried to make do by letting his pets — including two dogs — cool off inside his car.
“They’re dying,” Schepps said.
On Tuesday, he found solace at a nearby Barnes and Noble, which was open despite boarded-up windows. He grabbed coffee and charged his phone.
“Maybe I’ll check out a book, which I never read in my life,” he joked. “I’m just killing time.”
Staff writers Phillip Valys and Susannah Bryan contributed to this report.