LAKE WALES, Fla. (WFLA) – Families across the Tampa Bay area are turning to 8 On Your Side, upset that they are still without power more than a week after Hurricane Irma.
“This is frustrating for us,” said Robert Wright, a Lake Wales resident.
Crews restored power to the Army veteran’s neighborhood along Candlelight Loop after 10 days in the dark.
He questioned why it took so long when other surrounding neighborhoods had power days ago.
Wright feels overlooked and let down by Duke Energy after missed deadlines to restore power.
He says he understands that infrastructure has to be rebuilt but said, “There are little places like this that are off and secluded in the middle of an orange grove that you’re out of sight and you’re out of mind. That’s exactly how we feel.”
8 On Your Side took Wright’s concerns to Governor Rick Scott on his stop in Tampa thanking law enforcement officers and first responders for their hard work during the storm.
We asked the governor, “When it comes to outages, what about missed deadlines and people getting false hope thinking they would get power but it never happened? Is that acceptable with how it was handled? Could it have been handled better?”
“We all want to get our power back on and we all expect people to live up what they tell us,” Governor Scott told us. “That’s how we are in our own lives. Our expectation is that if you put a deadline out, you meet your deadline. I’ve been talking to utilities and I know they brought in a lot of assets around the country.”
The governor says more than 30,000 utility crews came in to help across the state. He noted that one issue is the amount of down trees in rural areas slowing the process.
Scott is hoping all power will soon be stored now that it’s been a week since Irma fully exited the state.
Duke Energy apologized this week for not meeting customer expectations.
The company posted this update Tuesday on when customers should expect electricity:
We expect that by 11 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 19, the severely impacted areas of Hardee, Highlands, Polk and Volusia counties as well as the northern Orange and Lake County borders will be mostly restored. The electrical systems in many of those areas suffered significant damage and will require reconstruction. In some cases, service may be delayed where a meter or other customer equipment was damaged and requires repair and an inspection. We may be calling many of our Florida customers throughout the day to confirm service has been restored in their area. The recorded call will ask for customers to notify us ONLY if they are still without power.”