The president of the company said some people may have to wait months.

Okay, am I in the area that may have to wait months? Or not?

I am not trying to oversimplify things, but if they know there are places that may take months to restore power then they must have an idea where those areas are.

And someone isn’t too busy washing the lineman’s clothes because they site and app are still being updated, they are just being updated with worthless info. So maybe while the washer is running next time it would be nice if they pass on a bit more detail because I do have the means to relocate but you know if it’s only gonna be a couple days I’m not going to bother. If it’s going to be a couple months I probably will. I don’t think I’m asking too much to get some sort of info.

quote:

I am not trying to oversimplify things, but if they know there are places that may take months to restore power then they must have an idea where those areas are

^^^^^^^^
Sanibel for sure. Anywhere there has been saltwater intrusion. Checking their website is a waste of time. Leave town for a week,clear your head and reassess. I think you are so angry and impatient that you are unable to understand the depth and complexity of the issue. All hands on deck for restoration not for keeping up the website.

quote:

I think you are so angry and impatient that you are unable to understand the depth and complexity of the issue. All hands on deck for restoration not for keeping up the website.

You’re wrong. I’m not angry. And I’m definitely not impatient. If they say it’s going to be a couple weeks I’ll accept that. I just want to have some idea. I am a little frustrated because I’m not getting any info, especially because they keep saying they are going to give more info and then they don’t. The website is being kept up, or at least my app is. Pretty regularly. So someone isn’t too busy washing shirts. I just wish that someone had more info, or at least would stop promising more info.

Good you sounded angry. They don't know is the answer, just like when your flight gets cancelled at the airport. I have been through at least five major hurricanes with Katrina the worst. I was without power for two weeks, some of my friends were out for three months. I personally know engineers who have worked these storms and discussed these issues. They do not have a clear answer at this point. EVERYONE in the office including management are working. A chemist friend of mine who worked for the power company drove trucks delivering transformers to job sites. Just leave town for a week.

Im definitely not angry. Especially at the workers. Im very thankful for all the employees especially the guys that came from out of state.

I don’t need to leave town, I’ve got a place to go locally for a week or two. That's my whole point, a week or two I’m good, if it’s months I’d like to start making more long term plans. I also have a small generator that I can use to power essential items if needed.

Leaving town for a week would be worthless to me.

Well it is rather simple then. Unless you had storm surge or microbursts in your area, I would say two weeks would be sufficient. Good problem solved.

Let us get real that will even small portable personal generators almost become worthless with some of the damage that we have seen so far due to the fact that gasoline to power the generators will probably not be obtainable even in the near future... I speak from personal experience from living here in south Louisiana even with storms of lesser severity hitting our area. Thoughts and prayers go those who were victims and thoughts/ prayers/and thanks to all of the recovery people there and in route to help with the recovery which is going to be a long drawn out process... drill sgt.

I saw something that kind of brought a tear to my eye tonight, and for me it was kind of personal.
My father was a power company line man for 43 years. What is going on in Florida is part of what he did.

Tonight my wife and I had to make a run to Lowes. We live very close to the intersection of Inter State 4 and US 27. On our way we saw convoys and convoys of utility trucks and tree trimmer trucks.

If you are familiar with this area we have one of the largest heavy construction equipment auction companies in the world headquarter on the North East side of the area. There property is huge if you want look it up on google maps.
As we passed there were trucks of all kinds pulling in. We saw two very large tents and from what we could see there had to be hundreds if not thousands of trucks.
My guess this is their staging area. They probably arrive,check in get an assignment and head out. I am going to also guess this may be the main staging area for the state.
This is a massive undertaking and to have this kind of manpower and equipment in one place so quickly is amazing.

I have the ring app on my phone because we have the camera system. Someone posted something to the effect that "their power was still off and did not know why the power company was dragging their feet" then made a nasty comment about the power company.
I almost replied but my wife stopped me.

These are people that have driven hundreds if not thousands of miles to help us. They can not just jump into fixing power lines that may have thousands of volts without taking the proper safety precautions in place so they don't kill them self.
As some one has said they prioritize hospitals,fire stations,police stations and shelters first. Then they look to see how the can get the most people on first the easiest then they go from there.

It's going to take time but they will get the job done, trust me I know it"s what my father did for 43 years.

I hope everyone is ok. The pictures I'm seeing are terrible.

Thank you. When it comes to power restoration these guys are the best. Lineman can make North of 100 grand with a busy storm season. I know how hard they work and often they sleep in their trucks. People also fail to realize that the out of town guys dont know the area and this adds time. They drop whatever they are doing at home to help us out.

Interstate 75 between exit 179 and 193 is now closed in both directions due to flooding and structural concerns. No word on how long it will be closed for but hopefully it’s not long.

That’s gonna suck real bad and cause significant delays getting help to areas below Venice as there aren’t many good detours. US 41 goes from Venice to Port Charlotte but it’s several miles off the interstate causing a long detour and will be extremely busy now. With no traffic that trip would add 30-45 minutes in a car.

In addition the river that is flooding and causing the concerns also runs under US 41 so hopefully it doesn’t cause issues there.

The US41 bridge across the Peace River is closed.

I’m a sitting here since 2am trying to figure out what’s what because it’s the only time we seem to have cellular service.

I see some generator discussion, so maybe you guys can help me out. I bought two of them on clearance for $400 for both from Home Depot. I have the panel lockout device and a cord hooked between one of the generators and the house. It works great. It uses about a gallon an hour, so $32 a day at 10 hours of running. There are no grocery stores open, so nothing needs refrigeration. I run the pool pump, but I could also just drain the pool. There’s no cable TV or internet. No communication services during the day. I’m at a complete loss as to what I’m supposed to be running the generator for? Schools are closed indefinitely. My daughter read 6 books yesterday, no stores or libraries are open to replenish the supply.

Part of me was like, Sweet! After 18 years I finally get to use my generator. Now I’m sitting here wondering why I wasted my money on it.

We are in the Florida Panhandle and were untouched by this storm-this time. We have been through many storms in the 42 years we have been here in Florida. Through many of them I was on duty for evacuation and recovery operations. I escorted a convoy of relief supplies to Homestead immediately after Andrew and could only describe the scene as looking like a bombing raid.

After I retired we went through a couple direct hits and I got to see the destruction firsthand from the victim point of view. You come out the morning after and see the devastation and the first thought you have is, "Did anyone else survive this thing?" The task of cleanup is daunting, then you start worrying about drinking water, food, fuel, and power. Thank God for the National Guard that brought us water, MRE's, and ice the morning after. We had gas grills so at least we were able to cook some before it went bad. A downside of having electric stoves and ovens when the power is out.

I had a hay business at the time and fortunately had large tractors that could clear trees from the roads and driveways. Many folks were trapped in their driveways because of downed trees.

I wore out about 30 chain saw blades on my two Stihl saws between September and November, clearing downed trees from the property. We had a fire going constantly to burn windfall for months. We were without power for 3.5 weeks after Ivan, and that was without any storm surge up in our rural area. The portable generators we had at the time were sadly inadequate and could not keep our fridge and freezer going. A lot of frozen food we had was unfit after a few days.

Many homes had roof damage with tarps as temporary cover. Some roofs were not repaired for a couple years because there were not enough materials and crews available, or folks did not have insurance. A lot of shoddy construction is uncovered by these storms.

I can just imagine the devastation of the power grid in the beach communities-they are going to have to re-build from the ground up. People with no power will suffer for many weeks or months to come. All of this caused me to install a whole house diesel generator that powers everything-I said never again. If you live in coastal areas, you may have to be self-sustaining for weeks after a storm.

I am concerned about the insurance business in Florida. It has been strained by past storms, but this is going to be their biggest hit yet due to the areas that were struck. This storm will certainly change the insurance industry and we will see increased rates.

My regard for Governor DeSantis is even higher now from the leadership he displayed during this emergency. My hat is off to the first responders, the aid organizations, medical folks, and the utility workers who are responding to the disaster. What would we do without them?

Looks like the South Carolina coast got smashed also. Three piers in Myrtle Beach are missing sections now and lots of flooded homes. Murrels Inlet was under water again.

My brother's son works for the power company, and he's working 16 hour days & is sleeping in a 16 bunk trailer. The bad part is he's nowhere near his house close to Ft. Myers that he had to evacuate, so he can't check on it. He did check it before he reported to work & it looked like there were a bunch of shingles missing, but that's all he could see at 2 AM.

His wife is staying with my brother up in Hudson, and she and another girl left yesterday morning to go down with a load of supplies and to check on their houses. She said that the newly redone 2 lane road that they take to get to their place has every light pole broken off for about 10 miles. It took her 9 hours to get back up to Hudson because the Myaki river overflowed onto the interstate close to North Port.

Trapper-

Grocery stores and gas stations are open in Venice. Also, Venice High School just opened as a shelter.

Not sure if you can get up there but if so there are some options.

quote:

Originally posted by trapper189:
The US41 bridge across the Peace River is closed.

I’m a sitting here since 2am trying to figure out what’s what because it’s the only time we seem to have cellular service.

I see some generator discussion, so maybe you guys can help me out. I bought two of them on clearance for $400 for both from Home Depot. I have the panel lockout device and a cord hooked between one of the generators and the house. It works great. It uses about a gallon an hour, so $32 a day at 10 hours of running. There are no grocery stores open, so nothing needs refrigeration. I run the pool pump, but I could also just drain the pool. There’s no cable TV or internet. No communication services during the day. I’m at a complete loss as to what I’m supposed to be running the generator for? Schools are closed indefinitely. My daughter read 6 books yesterday, no stores or libraries are open to replenish the supply.

Part of me was like, Sweet! After 18 years I finally get to use my generator. Now I’m sitting here wondering why I wasted my money on it.

well I will take a stab at it. Most have need for refrigeration and a freezer for one. Lights at night would be another. Communication could be another. Over the air tv or radio. Charging phones. Watching DVD type entertainment. Running fans if not some sort of AC. Or heat if that becomes necessary. Food prep as in a stove or hot plate, toaster oven, blender, mixer or whatever.
Things in the bathroom. Hair dryer, curling iron, etc. Running some kind of a pump. Charging batteries. And this in just for starters. If you could be out of power for a very long time. A generator is going to be very necessary.

Good news is a previously planned gasoline tax holiday went into effect today. State of FL gas tax of 25.3c per gallon is being waived for the month of October. Gas in my area down to ~2.85 as a result this AM. A small blessing for folks running portable generators

The fuel storage is a real consideration.

5 or 10 or 15 gallons is pretty easy.

But if you’re using 10 gallons a day, or even 5, how do you store dozens of gallons of gasoline? Because if it’s bad enough to need a generator for 2 weeks, it may be too bad to get gas for some period of time.

When we were out of power for an extended period of time we could keep the freezer cold. Keep fridge going and have minimum of other items. lights etc on 5-7 gal. of gas a day. Maybe slightly less. But our house hold is not large. But it can be done.