Cape officials provide update on recovery efforts

Oct 7, 2022 By CJ HADDAD 4 min read

City of Cape Coral officials gathered Friday afternoon to give the latest update on Hurricane Ian recovery efforts, especially surrounding power.

Cape officials were joined by Lee County Electric Cooperative CEO, Denise Vidal, who provided insight on what they’re doing to turn the lights back on for residents.

Vidal said the Oct. 8 date presented by LCEC for 95% of homes to have power is still a “reasonable estimated time for restoration.”

She said as of this morning, LCEC had restored 20,000 homes in a 24-hour span, bringing the total percentage of customers with power to 62%.

“If we keep at that same clip over the next couple of days, we’ll be very close to that 95 percent mark,” Vidal said. “We don’t yet know the pockets we might find as we keep digging through, but so far so good. We’ve got so much help, it’s really ticking along right now.”

Vidal said there are currently 1,500 crews working in Cape Coral and North Fort Myers to restore power, 1,000 being in Cape Coral.

LCEC has crew members from a variety of states, including 200-300 from Duke Energy, that are working specifically in the North Cape.

Vidal said they have brought in 50 “specialized” crews from Florida Power & Light to work on backyard and underground services. She added there have been no supply shortages from providers.

Those who have damage to their home’s meter box or weather head that does not allow for power to flow must have repairs made by an electrician.

City Manager Rob Hernandez said the city currently has an expedited inspection process with LCEC so that customers, once they have proper fixes made, can get their power back in a more timely fashion.

“We’re going to turn those around as quick as we can,” Vidal added.

When all is said and done, at least 600 poles will have been replaced in Cape Coral alone. Vidal said after Hurricane Irma, LCEC replaced 1,000 poles around the entire county.

“It’s pretty astronomical,” she said, adding, “We will not quit when we’re tired, but when we’re done.”

Her message to frustrated customers: “First, I ask for their patience. We want everybody to stay safe. It’s been very frustrating when you don’t have power. The benefit of having an electric cooperative is that we’re here in the community. We’re here right with you. You have an ownership stake in the cooperative. We’re going to just keep pushing until we get that power on.”

LCEC’s biggest challenge according to Vidal? The ravaging nature of the storm.

“The biggest challenge has been the magnitude,” she said. “It’s just the absolute destruction. This is just unprecedented. Everything was just destroyed.

“Second to that would be the flooding. It’s still an issue in some areas.”

Mayor John Gunter said the city’s contracted service for debris removal has 37 trucks going around the city to collect. He said they expect to have 50 trucks by tomorrow and up to 75 over the weekend.

“This is going to be a very large undertaking. We will make several passes,” Gunter said. “And we will keep coming back until we get that debris picked up.”

Residents may drop off vegetative debris at 1130 Northwest 28th Place from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily.

You must bring identification to show you are a Cape Coral resident. Do not place debris in bags.

Gunter said due to a lessening need, Point of Distribution sites will be only at 4820 Leonard Street and at Coral Oaks Golf Course (1800 Northwest 28th Ave.) open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Gunter said he’s been in talks with the county’s FEMA representative and hopes to have a site set up in Cape Coral for residents next week. He hopes to set up an “insurance village” at the same site.

“We’ll come together and get through this,” Gunter said. “It’s a catastrophic event. But we’ll get through it.”

Hernandez said the city’s utility crews have restored water to all system customers and that 100% of lift systems are operational. The boil water notice is still in place.

He said while the county has decided to rescind its curfew, Cape Coral has adopted its own curfew from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. that will be in place until Tuesday morning at 7 a.m.

Hernandez added, “This effort to rebuild Cape Coral is a massive undertaking involving communities from all over the state and utilities from all over the country.”

Police Chief Anthony Sizemore said 70% of the city’s traffic lights are operational. He added some supply chain delays could hinder how long certain intersections that took severe damage can get back to normal.

Gunter said City Hall would be fully open and operational on Tuesday.

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To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com