home of the free because of the brave tank

#HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE TANK GENERATOR#

Silagy said the utility has invested $4 billion over the last 10 years to harden its infrastructure, doing things like burying more power lines, noting that 40% of its distribution system is now underground.

Power restoration is always a key challenge after major hurricanes, when high winds and flying debris can topple power lines or major parts of the electricity infrastructure.

That figure doesn't include barrier islands such as Sanibel that are in its service area. Those outages don't include customers whose homes or businesses were destroyed.Īnother major electricity provider in the hard-hit coastal region, Lee County Electric Cooperative, said Monday that it expects to hit the 95% mark by the end of Saturday. The remaining 5% are mostly special situations where it's difficult to restore electricity, such as the home being so damaged it can’t receive power or the area still being flooded. The utility expects to have power restored to 95% of its service areas by the end of the day Friday, he said. State officials said they expect power to be restored by Sunday to customers whose power lines and other electric infrastructure is still intact.Ībout 400,000 homes and businesses in Florida were still without power Tuesday.Įric 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. Ian knocked out power to 2.6 million customers across Florida after it roared ashore with 150 mph (241 kph) winds and a powerful storm surge. we can’t make food, we don’t have gas.” Her mother has trouble breathing and needed to go to a friend’s house with electricity.

#HOME OF THE FREE BECAUSE OF THE BRAVE TANK GENERATOR#

She was still using a borrowed generator to try to keep her kids and their grandfather cool as temperatures in the typically humid area reached the upper 80s (about 30 degrees Celsius). She praised the crews for their hard work: “They’ve done a remarkable job.”Ī few miles north along the coast in Bonita Springs, Catalina Mejilla's family wasn't as lucky. Her electricity was restored four days after the hurricane slammed into her community of roughly 22,000 people. In Naples, Kelly Sedgwick was just seeing news footage Monday of the devastation. In hardest-hit Lee County, Florida, all 45 people killed by the hurricane were over age 50.Īs floodwaters begin to recede, power restoration has become job one.

Home of the free because of the brave tank