Fifteen days without power is a lot to take. especially when you throw in the 90-degree temperatures that we often have this time of year.
People were overjoyed when the power finally kicked back on in one Cape Coral neighborhood Thursday morning.
Among them is Joshnon Tran, who recently moved to Cape Coral from Portland, Oregon. He said he learned a big lesson during the hurricane; always have a generator before the storm hits.
For many, a generator was their lifeline to keep their food from going bad and to have some lights turned on. After waiting for so long, Tran said he won’t ever go into another storm unprepared.
Living on a generator after Hurricane Ian became the new normal for many in the southwest part of Cape Coral, including Tran.
That is until Thursday morning at around 9:30 when he finally got his power back after living almost 15 days without it.
“I am 67 years old the first time I’ve been in this storm, so we just expect, you know, about a week or 10 days, but nothing we can do, you know,” said Tran.
Tran moved to the Cape three months ago. He said he prepared for Ian as best he could but never knew how different his lifestyle would be in the days following the storm.
“Just a refrigerator and some light, and you know that’s all. I have learned a little bit more experience about storms now,” Tran said.
While the welcome to Florida hasn’t been what he expected, he is grateful for many things, like his power, but the biggest is his safety.
“Mother nature normal so we can live, you know. If not hurricane, you go over there maybe earthquake, maybe you know some kind of different disaster,” said Tran.
Now that he has his power back on, Tran said he is so excited to be able to cook again and wants to thank the lineman who have been working so hard to restore people’s power.
Before Hurricane Ian, it was probably hard for most of us to imagine two weeks without electricity, but one man in Cape Coral had a plan.
Joe Furlong left, and not just to a friend’s house. He made the drive all the way to North Carolina, where he stayed for almost 15 days, waiting for the update that his power was back on.
“We thought that, you know, we would have power by the past weekend. I think we were in the last 5% here on the Cape to get power,” said Furlong.
After living through Hurricane Charley, Furlong knew what he was in for, and this time he wanted no part of it.
“It’s just, there’s just no comfort, and you can’t sleep. It’s hard to sleep. It’s so hot. There’s no, you know, you can’t cook anything and, you know, you stock up beforehand what foods you can, but you know, cold beans and stuff like that. That gets old real quick,” said Furlong.
When the power went out during Ian, he went with it all the way to Asheville, North Carolina.
The only reason he came back, “My wife had a doctor’s appointment scheduled for today and the next day. And she couldn’t miss those who want to cancel them,” Furlong said.
The good news is they only had to live without power for one night as crews arrived early this morning.
“I watched the man. He was up on this pole about 20 minutes. And the guy on the ground looks at me, and he gives me a thumbs up. so I went right away and checked. And sure enough, we had power,” said Furlong.
Although he only experienced one day without power, Furlong said he’s thankful for the linemen’s hard work because he knows it’s been long days in the hot sun.