Cape couple provides shelter from the storm
Family fleeing rising waters from Hurricane Ian finds higher ground — and Good Samaritans
As water levels began to rise in his Cape Coral home with a Category 4 hurricane swirling outside, Jason Collins knew the clock was ticking. First the water started seeping in, then it raised to his knees, then to the waist.
He looked at three of his sons, ages 8, 12, and 14, fitted them with life jackets and helmets, grabbed a canoe, and ventured out to find refuge.
Wading (some floating) their way through storm surge along with the family dog all tied up to one-another, Collins saw a beacon of light — literally. A house roughly 40 feet away in the battered Southeast Cape neighborhood, shockingly enough, still had power. The canal-front property belongs to Michael and Patti Bartels, who had just left Cape Coral for Michigan a week before Ian arrived to make way for renters. Their newly-installed solar power system with back-up battery was doing its job.
While seeing lights on was a welcomed sight, what Collins really cared about was that the home sat about 6 feet higher than any others on his street, making it harder for the climbing storm surge to seek and destroy.
Doing what he had to do for the safety of his family, Collins, after discovering no one was home, entered the house via force. After many attempts with a large brick, he finally made a hole large enough through hurricane-grade glass for his 12-year-old to get through by laying a lifejacket over the shards. Refuge was secured.
“We can’t thank Michael and his family enough for being generous and understanding our situation,” Collins said.
Collins and his family that includes his wife and six boys total ranging from ages 1 to 14, just moved to Cape Coral roughly 12 weeks ago from Oregon. His home was still in the process of being moved into when the storm hit. Luckily, his wife and three of the sons were in Oregon visiting family when the storm arrived.
“We spent everything we had to get down here,” Collins said.
Still in the process of getting set up and without cable, it was by word-of-mouth from neighbors that the city was forecasted to take on a major hurricane. Collins boarded his house up and hoped for the best, not wanting to leave the house for a county shelter.
“We had a choice to make — either ride it out here and do the best we can with what little we brought down with us to Oregon and just work until we could set everything up high enough to hopefully stay dry. And that what we did.”
He told his sons that once the water in the home got to knee-deep levels, they would evacuate. That threshold was met quickly, and Collins attempted to leave via his truck, but storm surge had already done too much to the South Cape streets.
“The water was coming over the hood of my pickup truck,” he said. “I can’t be stranded out here with three kids and a dog.”
They ventured back to the home and as the water continued to rise, and as the roof to the home came off, Collins knew it was time for plan B.
“The last thing I wanted to do was break into someone’s home,” Collins said. “I feel horrible. Once the roof went, I knew it was getting real.”
Collins had each of his sons bring a backpack filled with whatever food and water they could. He even tied up the canoe to a tree out front in case the house ended up taking on water. Once they got into the Bartels’ home, they took towels they could find and put them under thresholds to keep water out, which was successful. They also blocked the hole made in the window to keep wind and rain from coming inside.
“He saved our home from flooding,” Michael said.
Collins, 41, is a journeyman lineman by trade. He said the fact the home had power was at the back of his mind, what was most crucial is that the home provided a safe haven for his sons.
“We didn’t go in there and flip on the AC and live in luxury,” Collins said. “It was the only house (with power) which makes it a target. Don’t get me wrong, it was wonderful to have power. The solar panels held up excellent. I’m shocked. The roof even underneath the solar panels is trashed — and it’s a beautiful tile roof.”
Collins deals with severe back pain daily due to an on-the-job incident that has required eight back surgeries along with knee and shoulder reconstruction. He can no longer work as a lineman, as risk of re-injury could land him in a wheelchair. Collins said it was adrenaline pushing him through those critical moments.
“When you’re talking about my kids, I’ll do whatever it takes,” he said. “I don’t care what it costs me.”
Collins’ father-in-law was able to track down the Bartels the next day and let them know what had occurred with his son. They were awestruck. Not only because their house had withstood the brute force of the high-end Category 4 hurricane on Sept. 28, but because it potentially saved the lives of a father, his three sons, and dog.
“When I’m hearing this story from his father in my office, tears are running down my cheeks,” Michael said. “I’m not only happy that our house survived the storm — so many people lost homes and lives and we’re fearing the worst — and now we’re finding out it not only survived, an upgrade we did just months ago is helping somebody else get refuge when they desperately needed it. It’s pretty incredible.”
The home served as a place for neighbors to go to charge their phones for a while to help keep in touch with family when service sporadically was available.
Collins also stopped two different attempts to steal either items or power from the home. One night around 2 a.m., he noticed a canoe tie up to the dock out back occupied by individuals with unsavory intentions. Another instance saw Collins halt a resident from trying to plug into the home via extension cord to a home nearly 1,000 feet away .
“It was pretty reciprocal,” Michael said. “I feel that we saved him and, in some ways, he saved our house.”
Collins said he made sure to be as respectful to the family as possible.
“The last thing I want to do is break into someone’s home and start using all of their stuff or be disrespectful in any way. Me and the boys stayed in one bedroom of this beautiful home and essentially camping out. We feel bad for even being there period. We’re just glad to have a dry place so to speak.”
Collins admits one night, while on the phone with Michael, he inquired about a chess board he’d seen in the house. Collins said the Bartels became emotional.
“They were so excited,” Collins said. “They told me, ‘Please open it. Please open it.’ To have that chess board was a real treat.”
Collins and his boys stayed in the Bartels’ house up until Wednesday morning. Their roof is still leaking and he’s been tearing out carpet and drywall. As of Wednesday, he hoped he could get a few dry mattresses for his family to sleep on.
“It’s going to be close to a teardown for sure,” Collins said of the state of the house. “It’s pretty bad. My No. 1 concern right now is to have a dry roof and a mold-free environment for my kids, something that’s safe until we can find something temporarily.”
Collins said he is frustrated with the lack of resources he’s seen in Cape Coral. He said long waits on the phone with FEMA have come up short. Cape officials on Tuesday said FEMA personnel should be in the city shortly. Collins said he is renting the home and the owners have arrived in the city from Germany. Collins said he does not have renters insurance as he and his family just arrived to the city. He and his wife Stephany hadn’t even received their new driver’s license yet.
Of the 20-plus houses on their street, the Bartels’ was the only residence not to take major water damage. The lanai and garage did flood, but compared to other homes in their location just 2 miles away from the Yacht Club, they were fortunate.
Even more fortunate was their decision to upgrade their solar power system mere months ago. The Bartels purchased the home six months to the day before Hurricane Ian made landfall.
The upgrade involved installing Enphase IQ8 Microinverters and a back-up battery.
Freedom Solar Energy out of Dade City were the ones to fit the Bartels with the system.
Typically, solar panels do not operate during outages (as many residents are becoming agonizingly aware). Freedom Solar CEO Justin Vaughn said this new technology allowed Bartel’s home to run on and create its own grid, not having to rely on the main grid where outages were plentiful. The back-up battery allowed for that power to carry over into the evening hours. When the sun came up, the panels kicked back on, powering the house and re-charging the battery for the upcoming evening.
There are still Cape residents without power more than two weeks after Ian. Michael said it was Vaughn who suggested to add the battery, and sold it to him at cost.
“I told Patti I’ve never been so happy with any purchase we’ve made,” Michael said. “They’re still standing and producing electricity, and somebody is staying safe there. It was amazing.”
Vaughn remarked, “With so many people losing everything and hearing how horrible it was, and to know that we installed the system pretty much where the eye of the storm went through, to hear that someone was able to seek refuge there and seeing the system intact and doing what it was designed to do was phenomenal. Hearing the story behind it made it that much more exciting. It was a great story to hear.”
For Vaughn, seeing this fresh technology pass the most strenuous of tests with flying colors gives him confidence for customers.
“There’s not a lot of (these kinds of systems) out there, and the ones that have been installed haven’t really truly been tested,” he said. “Yes, we’re installing a product that is designed and engineered to work this way, but to finally actually see it happen — and it worked with no communications, no cellular, no Wi-Fi and it can just run itself by itself, is outstanding. It ran flawlessly the entire time.”
The Bartels highly recommended that Cape residents, if within their means, look into the technology so when the next storm hits — and it will — the lights don’t go out.
“There’s no if, ands, or buts about it. If you’re going to make an investment in solar, to me, it makes all the difference in the world to pay the extra for those microinverters that let you produce power and power your house when there’s no electricity. If you can afford to power it with a battery, it will run after dark.”
Patti said when they installed the new system, their main reason was to help curb utility costs. Living in Florida where hurricanes and power outages are a regular occurrence in certain seasons, it’s an added bonus.
“Solar is a no-brainer with the raising utility rates,” Vaughn said. “Florida is a very hurricane-prone state. To not consider stand-by power or back-up power as a solution to whatever hurricanes come through — the product is available. We should use it. People have a misconception that solar can’t run whenever the grid is down or can’t function. I just think people need to look at the products that are available on the market today.”
Freedom Solar Energy services the Southwest Florida area often, and Vaughn said he hopes to see his company install more of these systems before the next storm approaches. Their automatic transfer switch shuts the main grid out, making it safe for power line workers to operate while the system generates its own energy. Those who already have solar can have upgrades made, including back-up battery installation.
Vaughn said he has this technology on his home, and it’s great to not have to worry about powering a generator. The fuel is on his roof.
“Whenever the grid goes down, I don’t know it,” he said. “The battery will run and power the whole house until the grid comes back online. Most of the homes in (Cape Coral) are grid-tied. People are just trying to reduce their monthly utility costs and haven’t considered stand-by power. I think now, after the hurricane and people experiencing no grid power for two weeks, I think it will bring more people to consider stand-by power as an option.”
For more information on Freedom Solar Energy, visit www.freedomsolarenergy.com.
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To reach CJ HADDAD, please email cjhaddad@breezenewspapers.com